Last Minute News, Rumors, Reports Ahead of Jets vs Canucks

Two nights ago, the Winnipeg Jets were down 4-0 with 2:40 to go in the third period. The NHL says no team has came back from a deficit like that in the entire history of the league. They scored four goals in the last 2:39. They won it 5-4 in overtime. Tonight, that same team plays the last place team in the Pacific Division. Vancouver has seven points. Winnipeg has 13 on the season. I think that the Jets take the momentum from this comeback and rip apart the Canucks tonight. First, why I believe the momentum is real, because the Jets were a mess before Montreal. They went nine straight games without a win, and in two games right before Montreal, they were outscored 12-2. Their coach, Scott Arniel, called the 7-0 loss in Carolina, quote, embarrassing for the organization. And it wasn't one bad night. Winnipeg had gone nine straight games without a win. The last one before Montreal was the 7-0 loss in Carolina, and that's when Arniel used that word. Then in Montreal, they didn't just get lucky, They outshot the Canadians 47-22. Tyrell Bauer scored his first NHL goal to make it 4-1. Connor tied it. Dylan Sandberg won it in overtime off a pass from Adam Lowry. A lot of people say it was the Bauer vs. Jack Guy fight that really brought this team back into the game. But there are some people out there, some Montreal writers that say that the Jets had the upper hand from the start of the second period as they outshot Montreal 29-14 after two periods. That is the kind of win that changes a locker room and it came two days before a home game against a team that can't stop anyone. Quickly before we move on, let me know down below in the comments who has the bigger night, Kyle Connor or Elias Pettersson. Now the team on the other side. Vancouver is 3-13-1 and has only 7 points in 17 games. They've lost 3 straight, and look at how. 3-2 in San Jose, 4-2 in Toronto, and 5-4 to Anaheim on Tuesday. And here is the thing. In the last 3 games, they weren't getting run over. Teams took 74 shots and 12 went in. Over the full season, they gave up 4.53 goals a game. That is the worst in the NHL, 32nd out of 32 teams. That's the goaltending. Kevin Lankinen has an 8.08 save percentage and has 6.03 goals against average this season. Levi Marolainen has an 8.97. And if you're enjoying Jets content just like this, go down below, hit that subscribe button. We're on the roll for two thousand subscribers. Thatcher Demko, their guy, is on injured reserve after hip surgery, so there's no savior coming tonight. They do have offense. Elias Pettersson leads them with 18 points. Besser has 14, but the Ducks beat them on Tuesday, and a penalty kill that kept getting burned was the story. So Vancouver is going to give you chances tonight. The question is whether Winnipeg will take them, and that brings me to what the Jets have to fix. So where does Winnipeg actually hurt them? Let's start with the penalty kill. Think about that for a second. The Canucks give up more goals than any team in hockey, and they're also one of the worst kill at killing penalties in the entire league. That is a recipe for a long night, and the Jets' power play just needs to be average for them to go out and put a pile of goals up against the Canucks. Vancouver is killing penalties at 63.2%, that is 31st in the league. Only one team was worse. And the Jets' power play? It's not great either. It's 17% on the season, which is 25th, so something has to give. But watch the other side too. Winnipeg's own penalty kill is 68.8%, 28th in the league, and Vancouver's power play is 21.8%, 15th. So if the Jets take penalties tonight, they are playing with fire. This is why discipline matters so much tonight, because at 5-on-5, the Jets are going to be the better team, but if we take penalties, we give the Canucks an opportunity to get back in it. And remember, this team has beaten them before. Last season, the Jets won all three games against Vancouver. But two of those wins last season came in overtime, so Vancouver won't go away early, even this version of the team. Winnipeg can't think this game is already won going into it. Now the part that worries me just a little bit. This is our first full homestand without Connor Hellebuyck. He didn't report to camp, he was suspended for the first three weeks, and on October 23rd, he was traded to New Jersey. In return, Winnipeg got Dawson Mercer, Nick Bjugstad, plus the 12th pick from the 2026 draft, Alexander Kaming, and two more picks. Mercer is back in the lineup tonight. Bjugstad is out long-term after pectoral surgery. And the goalies to our left have not been good. Stortzkerinner starts tonight, and he is an 8-8-2, with the 3.41 goals against average. Niko Dassis is at an 8.86, and Stevenson is at an 8.70. As a team, the Jets allow 3.63 goals a game. That's 29th in the NHL. So this is not a team that even wins by shutting people down. So that's what makes tonight so special is that the Jets are bad at stopping goals. Vancouver is worse at both. So if there's ever a night to get your goalie's confidence back, tonight is the one. And Hellebuck comes back to Winnipeg here in five days. So we need to keep this momentum going and roll it into that one. Don't sleep on the Canucks' forwards, though. Elias Pettersson leads them with 18 points, and Besser has 14. Lacker Mackie has 6 goals, Besser has 5, and so does Ogren and DeBrusque. So the goals come from everywhere. And Pettersson wins only 46% of his face-offs, 165-1 out of 359. So the Jets' center should be able to take the puck. And the Canucks are banged up. Thatcher Demko, Philip Hedl, Akil Thomas, and Mackenzie McCarron are all on injured reserve. But the Jets have their own list. Josh Morrissey is out with a wrist injury, and the Metcalf is on injury reserve, and Bjugstad is out long-term. Both teams are thin, but the difference is one team has a win to build on, and one of those has lost three in a row. Number one, the start. At Montreal, the Jets gave up the first goal for the 12th time in 14 games. But I'll be honest, the Jets were outscored 12-2 in the two games before Montreal. One comeback doesn't fix that, but tonight is a test of whether it's a turning point or not. Number two is Kyle Connor. He has 13 of the Jets' 39 goals this season and 17 points in 16 games. They score only 2.44 goals a game as a team, 29th in the league, so they need to lean on him. Number three is the goalie. Stortskinner starts tonight, and he's at an .882 save percentage this season. Put that next to Conner's 13 of the Jets' 39 goals and the 10-6 edge for that line, and those are the three numbers that decide it. But remember, there's no Hellebuck anymore. He's a devil, and he'll come back to town on Tuesday. And I'm excited because the lineup is shifting a bit. Brayden Yeager finally gets called up. I'm very excited to see him on this, in the top six between Perfetti and Mercer tonight. With Morecian now with the wrist injury, Sandberg and Pionk are on the top here. So I'm fired up for Yeager. I think this guy's really going to help out this second line tonight. Now I want to hear what you guys think the player of the game for the Jets is going to be. Do you think it's going to be Connor or Skinner? I think it's going to be Yeager. And I think we're going to be doing a watch line for this one tonight. So stay tuned. Hit that subscribe button so you know when we do go live with that. Here's what I'm watching in the first period. Does Skinner stop the first shot? He sees, does Winnipeg get a power play earlier? And does Connors line put five shots up in the first 10 minutes? And hopefully, if all those three things go right, we can see the Jets finally score the first goal of the game tonight. And here's the other thing. The Jets outshot Montreal 47-22 and needed a miracle. If they do that again and don't finish, a bad goalie can steal a night. So shots only matter if they turn into goals. And if all clicks, they're facing a team that averages almost about 5 goals given up a game. So the Jets hopefully can pounce on that and just get everybody out of the funk they're in right now. So here's my pick. The Jets by 3 or more goals tonight. They're riding the biggest win of the season. They're at home and the other team has 7 points and an 8.08 save percentage goaltender. Here's how I see it going. Winnipeg gets an early power play and Vancouver's penalty kill cannot handle it. They get the first goal of the game and they ride this momentum all game and win it. And we're going to have to see if this momentous win changed anything for the Jets because we don't want to see them of the team before that where they're outscored 12-2. We need them to take this momentum and go out and get the win tonight. And the schedule isn't friendly either. Tampa comes in on Sunday, then Hellebuck and the Devils on Tuesday. A win tonight starts something. If you're enjoying videos just like this, go down below, hit that subscribe button. We're going to be here every single day bringing you the latest on the Jets. We're on the roll for 2,000 subscribers. Now I want to hear your guys' score predictions down below in the chat. For me, I got 5-1 for the Jets tonight. Let me know what you guys are saying down below. This has been another episode of Jets Digest. If you enjoyed, leave a like. Subscribe to the channel as always. I'm your host, KC. We'll see you in the watch along tonight, and we'll keep your stick on the ice.