After starting this four-game homestand with a 7-1 thrashing of the Utah Hockey Club, the Edmonton Oilers will host the Winnipeg Jets, the top team in the Western Conference standings.
1. This will be the first time the Oilers and Jets have squared off since early October when Winnipeg hammered Edmonton by a score of 6-0 in the season-opener for both teams. The Oilers and Jets will play their third and final meeting of the regular season in Winnipeg in early April.
The Jets spoiled the 2023-24 Western Conference Champions banner raising at Rogers Place and then went on to start the year 15-1-0, cementing themselves as a serious Stanley Cup contender. They now have a 47-18-4 record, good for a nine-point lead in the Central Division. They’re also tied with the Washington Capitals in the Presidents’ Trophy race with one more game played.
2. The Capitals lead the NHL with 247 goals scored this season and the Jets are right behind them in second with 238 goals. Winnipeg’s 161 goals against are the fewest in the league and their .915 team save percentage is the highest by a wide margin. The Jets have the league’s best power play at 30.7 percent and their 78.7 penalty kill percentage ranks 15th.
3. The Jets made moves ahead of the March 7 trade deadline to address the team’s mediocre penalty kill. They added gritty winger Brandon Tanev from the Seattle Kraken and shutdown defender Luke Schenn from the Nashville Predators by way of the Pittsburgh Penguins and both players are on their second penalty kill unit.
4. Leading the way offensively for the Jets has been the team’s top forward line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Gabe Vilardi, who have combined for 98 of Winnipeg’s 238 goals this season. Connor is third in the NHL with 36 goals, Scheifele is fourth with 35 goals, and Vilardi is nearing the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career with 27 goals.
The Jets also have second and third lines that can contribute offensively. The second-line trio of Nikolaj Ehlers, Cole Perfetti, and Vladislav Namestnikov have combined for 47 goals while Adam Lowry and Nino Niederreiter have both chipped in with 14 goals from the third line.
5. The top defenceman on Winnipeg’s blueline this season has again been Josh Morrissey, who has 52 points in 68 games while logging 24:13 per night. Morrissey has been suiting up with Dylan Demelo on the team’s top pairing while Dylan Samberg and Neal Pionk form the second pairing. With Pionk out with a lower-body injury, veteran Luke Schenn has moved up to play alongside Samberg.
6. The MVP for the Jets this season — and possibly the MVP of the league as a whole — has been goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
After winning the Vezina Trophy for the league’s top goaltender last season along with the Jennings Trophy for the goaltending duo with the fewest goals allowed, Hellebuyck has taken his game to an even higher level in 2024-25. The native of Commerce, Michigan leads the NHL with a .924 save percentage, 2.05 goals-against average, and 33.1 goals-saved above average.
Hellebuyck boasts a 39-10-3 record on the season, six wins shy of setting a new career high. He’ll undoubtedly win his third Vezina Trophy, the question is whether he’ll beat Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon in the Hart Trophy vote.
7. The Oilers are coming into this game riding their longest winning streak since late January. They won tight games over the New York Islanders and Rangers and then returned home and hammered the Utah Hockey Club with a 7-1 win that matched their largest margin of victory of the season.
Stuart Skinner is expected to start for the Oilers after Calvin Pickard picked up the win against Utah on Tuesday. Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, Leon Draisaitl, and Mattias Ekholm were given the day off from Edmonton’s practice on Wednesday and it isn’t clear yet how the lines will look against the Jets.
In their win against Utah, the McDavid had Hyman and Jeff Skinner on his wings while Draisaitl played with Corey Perry and Connor Brown. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins seems to have found his game as the third-line centre with Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson as his wingers.
