Islanders at Jets
Locked in a fierce battle for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, the Winnipeg Jets vie for their third straight win when they host the New York Islanders on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game homestand. The Jets improved to 5-1-1 in their last seven with a 3-1 victory at Nashville on Saturday and are among four teams separated by three points for No. 8 in the West. “Every game is big down the stretch,” Jets forward Devin Setoguchi said. "We’ve got another big one coming up."
A 10-game winless drought from mid-November through early December all but torpedoed the postseason hopes of the Islanders, who are buried in 14th place in the Eastern Conference. New York has the look of a team playing out the string, coughing up a two-goal, third-period lead in a 5-3 home loss to the Florida Panthers on Sunday. "We seem to find ways to lose," said center Andrew MacDonald, who along with left wing Thomas Vanek is expected to be sent packing by Wednesday's trade deadline.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, MSG Plus (New York), TSN, TSN2 (Winnipeg)
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (23-32-8): Vanek and MacDonald are both scheduled to be unrestricted free agents, the main reason they are expected to change addresses before New York returns from the four-game road trip. Vanek scored twice Sunday to halt an eight-game goalless drought and give him 44 points in 47 games since he was acquired from Buffalo early in the season. The Austrian said he planned to test the free-agent market but still was not looking forward to getting dealt. "Any time you get traded, I think it's not a good feeling," he told reporters.
ABOUT THE JETS (30-26-6): Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec staggered through a 12-start stretch earlier in the season, winning only once and surrendering at least four goals on six occasions in that span, but he's turned his game around since Paul Maurice replace the fired Claude Noel behind the bench on Jan. 12. Pavelec has turned aside 73-of-76 shots in victories over Phoenix and Nashville coming out of the Olympic break to improve to 9-3-0 in his last 12 games after opening the season 11-19-4. "He's had a big stretch of really good games," Maurice said to the media.
OVERTIME
1. Winnipeg is 11-3-1 since Maurice was named interim coach.
2. The Islanders have a league-low nine home wins but they are 10-3-0 in their last 13 on the road.
3. Pavelec has lost four straight starts against the Islanders to fall to 3-5-2 lifetime against them.