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Winnipeg Jets (23-14-8) at Chicago Blackhawks (28-13-2) 7:30PM Central TSN3, CSN-Chicago
THE BUZZ
The Hawks should be well-rested after a few days off leading up to the All-Star break next week. The Jets come in winners of two straight and clearly a much-improved team over last year. They’ve already beaten the Hawks in Chicago this year and it was no fluke—Chicago was flatly outplayed in their own building.
The Hawks have been struggling to find the same groove they were in earlier in the year—really up to just before Christmas. Since then, they’ve been up and down, giving up an uncharacteristically high number of shots in most games.
THE NUMBERS
Power Play Winnipeg, 20th, 17.5% Chicago, 15th, 18.5%
Penalty Kill Winnipeg, 9th, 83.4% Chicago, 1st, 89.2%
5-on-5 GF/GA Winnipeg, 9th, 1.13 Chicago, 4th, 1.27
Last 10 Games Winnipeg, 5-4-1 Chicago, 6-4-0
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Winnipeg
Ladd–Little–Wheeler Perreault-Scheifele-Frolik Kane-Lowry-Halischuk Thorburn-Slater-Peluso
Enstrom Bogosion Chiarot Byfuglien Stuart Harrison
Hutchinson
Chicago
Saad-Toews-Hossa Bickell-Richards-Kane Sharp-Shaw-Teravainen Carcillo-Kruger-Smith
Keith Seabrook Oduya Hjalmarsson Rozsival Rundblad
Crawford
I’ll recap tomorrow,
JJ