Avalanche at Jets
THE STORY: The Winnipeg Jets have a true home-ice advantage at the MTS Centre, where 15,004 fans cheer from start to finish and provide an intimidating presence for the opponent. In order to reach the Stanley Cup tournament, the Jets will need all the help they can get as they continue their season-high eight-game homestand against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. Both teams sit just outside playoff position in their respective conferences.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Avalanche), TSN-Jets
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (29-26-4): Colorado will welcome back Matt Duchene, who missed seven weeks with a knee injury. Duchene, who led the Avalanche in scoring last season, will play left wing on a line centered by Paul Stastny with Milan Hejduk on the right side. Colorado’s confidence level is high after it snapped a four-game road losing streak with a 3-1 victory at Edmonton on Friday. Ryan O’Reilly, who had three assists Friday, leads the team in scoring with 44 points and is also a Frank Selke Trophy candidate as one of the NHL’s top defensive forwards. Center Peter Mueller will miss his third straight game with a torso injury.
ABOUT THE JETS (28-26-6): Winnipeg, which is 17-9-2 in Manitoba, started its home run with a 4-2 victory over the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins on Friday. The Jets, who won at Minnesota 4-3 in a shootout Thursday, improved to 1-9 in the second of back-to-back games. Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec snapped a two-game losing streak and tied a career high with his 21st victory. Evander Kane leads the Jets with a career-high 21 goals, while Andrew Ladd hasn’t scored in 13 games. Defenseman Zach Bogosian has missed the last two games with an upper body injury and is questionable.
OVERTIME:
1. The Jets are 3-0-0 against the Northwest Division this season, including a 4-1 victory at Colorado on Dec. 27. The Avalanche are 3-2 versus the Southeast.
2. Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson has a goal in a career-high three straight games.