In the next round of the NHL regular-season, Columbus Blue Jackets will host Winnipeg Jets at Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio. The Jackets manage to fight for the playoffs, although they also have almost no star players in the roster. Let’s see who might be stronger in this contest.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The club is deprived of any pressure since no one expected any achievements from them at all. They’ve lost three leaders in the mid-season – Artemy Panarin, Sergey Bobrovsky and Matt Duchene. Of course, everyone was sure that after such losses the Blue Jackets would have to spend several years at the bottom, recruit talented youth, after which they could start returning to the postseason.
But reality turned out to be favourable to Columbus. The team climbed to eighth place in the Eastern Conference, won eight matches from ten previous ones. Plus, the team plays almost equally cool both at home (15-9-2) and away (11-7-6), which is especially valuable for anyone eager for the playoffs. Let’s recall that in the last four matches the Jackets had three consecutive shutouts, one of which was against the season’s leaders – Boston. That is due to the reliable play of the Latvian goalie – Elvis Merzlikins.
Winnipeg Jets
The team has an important task: not to allow a big gap with eighth place in the conference. Now Winnipeg is the ninth, but three points from the eighth of Arizona. The situation is not the most pleasant, but everything is solved quite simply – you need to add at least a little. Four victories in ten games – this is not enough for great accomplishments.
The Jets confidently play away, but for some reason, in front of the native Canadian audience, which passionately supports their favourites, playing just as effectively fails. With such a relatively weak home result, 11-11-2, there is not a single team in the top eight.
Columbus Blue Jackets vs Winnipeg Jets prediction
Winnipeg has won the last three full-time matches between these teams, including the only game in the current regular season.
Columbus added gorgeously – five wins in a row. And they managed to get a shutout three times in a row (against Vegas, Boston and New Jersey). And in the other two meetings in total conceded only three goals — just a phenomenal condition, especially concerning defence.
But Winnipeg has obvious problems: four losses in the last five matches. In three of them, the team conceded five or more goals, and in another case, lost was shutout by the opponent. The club is unstable, and now far from the peak of its capabilities.
Obviously, the hosts are much better prepared at the moment, and the emotional mood is lovely. The Jets are unstable and are unlikely to be able to raise unresolved issues for the defence of the Blue Jackets.
The reliable bet for this game would be the win of the Blue Jackets in the regulation.
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