As the Winnipeg Jets still look for their first win of the season, their home-opener against the Anaheim Ducks will be made significantly harder missing two of their top players. Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele are both in the NHL's COVID Protocol. Wheeler, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, is now joined by star center, Mark Scheifele.

After a heartbreaking 6-5 loss to the Minnesota Wild, the Jets will look to recreate some of the success they had finding the back of the net, and Connor Hellebuyck will look to have a strong start after a shaky start to the season. I was unable to watch the game, but after watching clips and hearing from all of you, the Jets played very well offensively, netting 5 goals, and should have won the game 6-4, but Kyle Connor drifted offside on an empty-net goal, which was called back. The Wild ocming back down and scoring, and going on to win in the extra frame really hurt to see. Again, the biggest thing I have talked about so far, positioning in front of the net. The team just seems to not be able to cover the open man out front, and fail to clear the crease, which they are seeing can be very costly.

October 21st/Game 4 Projected Lineup

Stasny-Copp-Ehlers
Connor-Dubois-Svechnikov
Harkins-Lowry-Vesalainen
Toninato-Nash

Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stalney-DeMelo
Beaulieu

There are many things to take from this lineup that Paul Maurice is going to ice. The first being the top line carrying Andrew Copp and Paul Stasny. The positive to that is that Ehlers is going to be seeing top line minutes for the first time this season. In a pinch, with two first line players out of the lineup, I don't mind this forward group, besides rising star Cole Perfetti being left out. Copp has been looking solid offensively, and although many aren't a fan of his elevated minutes, there isnt much of a choice right now. Stasny on the LW on that line is a smart decision in my opinion. Although yes, his age is showing on the ice, if Kyle Connor were to be bumped up, that leaves a very thin Bottom-9 besides Dubois. That is nothing against any of the guys in the lineup, but many of them are role-playing forwards.

No changes on defense, as Head Coach Maurice has liked what he has seen so far, and adding Beaulieu again. Dillon didn't seem to have a fantastic game, and was caught out of position on a few occasions, but my goodness, you have to give the guy credit for being on the receiving end of an attempted Marcus Foligno Superman punch. That might have been the funniest thing I have seen in a hockey game. Other than that, this defense group is quite comfortable, and again, growing pains for a few new guys is always going to be there, in terms of positioning, and communication. The question is, how long is too long without "clicking" to have to make a shake-up?

I would also like to see a strong game from Connor Hellebuyck. Although he hasn't been anywhere close to bad, this is not the Connor Hellbuyck we are used to seeing. A lights-out performance tonight would really give this team a much-needed boost of confidence, that being said, there still has to be goals scored and a solid defensive performance in front of him.

I, unfortunatly, will not be able to catch tonights game either, so a piece will be out tomorrow, and although I won't have the best breakdown of the game, I will be catching up on everything I missed. Thank you for reading, and I will be replying to lots of comments here this afternoon and tomorrow. Go Jets Go!

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