Its the Canucks For Kids Telethon Night so donate your dollars for a great cause! There’s also a hockey game taking place as well! The Jets are in Vancouver to take on those lovable Canucks and with a potential 3 game win streak on the line, we have to put the Matthews hopes on the back burner if only for a night.
BROADCAST INFO
TV: SNET-P
RADIO: TSN 1040
PUCK DROP: 7:08 PM
LINE COMBOS
Chris Tanev (Upper Body) may very well play tonight and that warms my heart. Asking Ben Hutton to be their everything isn’t fair every night. Henrik Sedin came back last game so things are starting to get back to normal. Justin Bieber’s new bro, Jake Virtanen, may get another opportunity with the Sedins but Emerson Etem looks like he’s there. Regardless, Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi are back together and that’s all I care about. Alexandre Grenier, he of the call up this morning, will be slotting in for a banged up Alex Burrows.
It’s Jacob Markstrom’s turn in net.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
Defensive Pairings
 
Ben Hutton
 
Luca Sbisa
 
Dan Hamhuis
 
Yannick Weber
 
Matt Bartkowski
 
Alex Biega
Mark Scheifele is having a great season. He’s currently on a seven-game point streak and I once drafted him as a rookie in my hockey pool. I finished dead last. Is Mark Scheifele worthy of leading this Jets team one day? Would you draft him in your hockey pool? Tough questions. Tyler Myers is the second former Kelowna Rocket in as many games to face the Canucks, I still like the cut of his gib, I bet he scores too!
Ondrej Pavelec is my guess for the starting position.
Winnipeg Jets lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
REASONS TO WATCH THIS GAME
  • With his goal last game, Sven Baertschi has 2 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 games. A second chance and he’s making the most of it. Bo Horvat can only continue to benefit from having an equally exciting linemate. Here’s hoping they put something together tonight.
  • Ben Hutton is 6th in rookie assists and 17th in rookie scoring. That sounds great but the real hilite is that in 5 years from now, he’s one of a handful of players that will be making an impact. He’s worth watching tonight.
  • Jacob Markstrom or Ryan Miller? Even with minimal goal scoring, these two guys have really stepped it up in the 2nd half and if it wasn’t for them there would be a heck of a lot more losses and maybe that first pick would be closer. It’s been exciting and no one wants to lose pathetically; Miller and Markstrom are keeping it manageable. 
  • Want Auston Matthews in Vancouver? With a 6% chance of getting him, NHL Lottery Simulator gave him to the Canucks on the third try. Imagine if they lost a few more times, it could get that much easier. Head on over to the site before the game to get excited.
  • The Jets have accomplished two (3) game losing streaks after getting a win in their last 10 games. Guess what they did last game? Uh, they won. Time to start another streak. Canucks are good at starting/ending when necessary. 
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Real recognizes real
MY TAKE
It’s been an awkward second half. The allure of the first overall pick is tasty but making the playoffs is something that just should happen in Vancouver every year. A 3 game win streak would make for good radio conversation so I’m going with that. Canucks win a close one and Jake Virtanen does something we’ll talk about tomorrow.
WHAT’D I MISS?
Speaking of the Lottery simulator(s), I got the ball rolling this week on the hype train. Don’t say I didn’t because no one was talking about it until late this week. Agree to disagree if you may after the jump.