User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 

Saturday, 11 February 2012 11:30

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Jets.

When and where: 2 p.m. EST; Consol Energy Center.

TV: Root Sports, CBC, NHL Network (United States, outside the Pittsburgh market).

Record: 26-24-6, 58 points. The Jets are in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and third place in the Southeast Division.

Leading Scorer: Blake Wheeler, 36 points (10 goals, 26 assists).

Last Game: 3-2 road shootout win against the Capitals, Thursday. Dustin Byfuglien (right) had a regulation goal and an assist for the Jets.

Last Game against the Penguins: 4-1 home loss, Festivus Dec. 23. Chris Kunitz recorded two assists for the Penguins.

Jets Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Alexander Burmistrov. He has six points in six career games against the Penguins.

Ex-Penguins on the Jets: Chris Thorburn, RW.

Ex-Thrashers/Jets on the Penguins: Jason Botterill, assistant general manager; Pascal Dupuis, RW; Chris Kunitz, LW; Todd Reirden, assistant coach.

Useless Thrashers/Jets Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Former Penguins left wingers Jon Sim holds the Thrashers/Jets franchise record for quickest back-to-back goals in a game. He score twice in the span of 22 seconds in a 4-3 home loss against the Hurricanes, Oct. 13, 2006.

Best Thrashers/Jets Video We Could Find: Byfuglien, then of the Thrashers, going end to end to score in overtime against the Sabres last season:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (28-13-3, 2.29 GAA, .913 SV%) for the Penguins and Ondrej Pavelec (20-18-6, 2.68 GAA, .913 SV%) for the Jets.

Injuries: For the Penguins, center Tyler Kennedy (high ankle sprain) is out. Right winger Arron Asham (head), center Sidney Crosby (head/neck) and defensemen Simon Despres (knee) are on injured reserve. For the Jets, center Tim Stapleton ("lower body") is on injured reserve.

-Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins primary lines and defensive pairings at practice yesterday were (PG+):

Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Steve Sullivan - Cal O'Reilly - Dustin Jeffrey
Craig Adams - Joe Vitale - Richard Park

Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Deryk Engelland/Ben Lovejoy - Matt Niskanen

-The Jets primary lines and defensive pairings against the Capitals Thursday were:

Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Blake Wheeler
Evander Kane - Nik Antropov - Eric Fehr
Tanner Glass - Jim Slater - Chris Thorburn
Alexander Burmistrov - Aaron Gagnon - Antti Miettinen

Tobias Enstrom - Dustin Byfuglien
Ron Hainsey - Zach Bogosian
Mark Stuart - Johnny Oduya

Notes:

-Malkin has played in 399 career games.

-Park has scored 99 career goals.

-Dupuis has 145 career points.

-The Jets are expected to activate forward Tim Stapleton ("lower-body") from injured reserve.

-The last time a Winnipeg-based team played in Pittsburgh was a 9-4 Penguins win against the Jets at the Civic Arena, March 5, 1996. Petr Nedved had four goals and an assist for the Penguins while teammates Dave McLlwain and Sergei Zubov each scored two goals. Tom Barrasso made 37 saves in the victory. Former Penguin Jim McKenzie scored two goals for Winnipeg.

-The Penguins will be wearing their blue mish-mash "Frankenstein" jerseys today.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 1 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed