Hurricanes at Jets
THE STORY: Regularly among the worst teams defensively during its decade in Atlanta, the Winnipeg Jets aren’t making a very good first impression in their new home. The Jets rank among the worst teams in the NHL both offensively and defensively, allowing an average of 3.5 goals while scoring only 1.8. Poor power play and penalty kill units have been a big part of the problem. At least the home fans have been wildly supportive. The division-rival Carolina Hurricanes will find out all about that crowd when they make their first trip to visit the Jets on Saturday. The Hurricanes have had their struggles defensively, as well, but have managed to generate enough offense to cover some of those mistakes. Carolina had its three-game winning streak come to an end in an overtime loss on Friday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBC (Winnipeg), FSCR (Carolina)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (3-2-2): Carolina picked off the defending-champion Boston Bruins twice during their winning streak, including a wild 4-1 victory on Tuesday in which it scored a pair of power-play goals in the third period. The emotion seemed to carry over to the first two period on Friday, as the Hurricanes built a 2-0 lead only to fall 3-2 in overtime.
ABOUT THE JETS (1-4-1): After gaining their first three points with a home win and an overtime loss at Toronto on Wednesday, the Jets put 36 shots on goal but only came up with one tally in a 4-1 loss to the Senators. They allowed one goal on the penalty kill to Ottawa and have surrendered at least one power-play goal in five of six games.
OVERTIME:
1. Winnipeg defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, who scored his first goal on Thursday, pleaded not guilty on Friday to four charges dealing with a boating arrest in Minnesota on Aug. 31.
2. Carolina took five of six from the Thrashers last season, though all but one of the contests ended with a single-goal margin and four went past regulation.
3. Hurricanes backup Brian Boucher will likely get the start in net on Saturday.