Game #16: Jets vs. Panthers

Welcome home Jets. It's been a while has it not?

The Winnipeg Jets return to shake the dust off the MTS Centre tonight as they host the Florida Panthers in only their fifth game on home ice this season.

So far, the Jets are sporting a 2-2-0 record at home, with wins over Pittsburgh (2-1) and Carolina (5-3), while dropping decisions to Montreal (5-1) and the New York Rangers (2-1).

Two days after a crashing end to a mildly successful 3-2-2 two week road swing in Buffalo, the Jets are now 5-7-2 on the season and are looking to climb the standings now with some home cooking.

Of the nine games remaining in November, five of them are at the MTS Centre.

And of those nine, five are against divisional opponents.

The Jets most decidedly have the ball in their court, as it were, with the majority of games coming at home against their divisional opponents.

Let's hope the Jets make the most of things.

With the return of Mark Stuart, the Jets blueline was bolstered towards the end of the road trip.

But no one is in a hurry to rush back either Randy Jones or Ron Hainsey with the emergence of Mark Flood on the back end.

In four games after the call up from St. John's, Flood has two goals and one assist.

Not shabby for a defenseman who will play his first game on MTS Centre ice in an NHL uniform rather than an AHL uniform.

The Panthers, meanwhile, are coming off a 5-1 thrashing of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

Florida has managed to grab points in its last five games, going 2-0-3 in those five games, including a 4-3 shootout loss to the Jets.

Three of the losses for the Panthers in the last five games have come courtesy the shootout.

Ondrej Pavelec is expected to start his eighth straight game after starting all seven on the road swing.

Game time is 7:30 PM CT and is available on TSN Jets.


Photo Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports & Getty Images

Game #14: Jets @ Rangers

Sunday night marks the sixth of seven road games during an Eastern trip for the Winnipeg Jets (5-6-2) as they visit Madison Square Gardens and the New York Rangers (6-3-3).

The Jets and Rangers meet for the second time this season - the last meeting a 2-1 win for the Rangers at the MTS Centre on October 24th.

The Jets will likely be without defenseman Mark Stuart again and possibly Randy Jones, but the likelihood of Nik Antropov playing is higher than the other two.

Antropov was a late scratch last night after warmup.

The Jets will still have Brett Festerling, Mark Flood, and Paul Postma on the road trip and all three are ready to go if Stuart and Jones are not able to go.

Tobias Enstrom has officially been placed on the IR.

Ondrej Pavelec will get yet another start on the trip - his 12th of the season.

Game time is 6:00 PM CT and is available on TSN Jets and TSN 1290.


Photo Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports & Getty Images

Game #11: Jets @ Panthers

Winnipeg Jets fans hope that Halloween won't scare away a win as the Jets (3-6-1) take on the upstart Florida Panthers (6-4-0) in another Southeast Divisional matchup at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise.

The Jets still only have one win on the road - a 9-8 shootout with the Philadelphia Flyers last week - and they are also at a 1-1 record versus divisional opponents.

Last year's Atlanta version of the Jets went 6-6-8 versus Southeast Division teams last year, including a 4-1-1 record against the Panthers last season.

The Panthers are coached by rookie head coach and former NHLer of 1188 games Kevin Dineen. Dineen stepped into the role of head coach after spending five season as head coach of the AHL's Portland Pirates - a team that never missed the playoffs with Dineen behind the bench.

Claude Noel is likely to start with Ondrej Pavelec in goal for the Jets again after a 26 save performance in the Jets 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Pavelec redeemed himself after allowing those seven goals on 43 shots against the Flyers last Thursday.

For the season, Pavelec's stats are not stellar - a 3.75 goals against average combined with a .876 save percentage.

However, during his career, the young goalie is 4-1-0 with a 2.04 goals against average against Florida, including a 3-0-0 mark in Sunrise. With October finally ending tonight, the Jets starter may finally be getting back on track after a slow October start.

Though Alexander Burmistrov had his six game point streak snapped Saturday night, the young Russian still co-leads the Jets in points with nine in ten games.

He and Nik Antropov are still showing great chemistry early in the season. Along with Evander Kane, they have unofficially become the Jets second line and have been much more effective and successful thus far this season than the Jets top line of Blake Wheeler-Bryan Little-Andrew Ladd.

Jets are still without the services of defenseman Ron Hainsey and forward Eric Fehr, who is slowly on his way to recovery.

Fehr's timetable for return is starting to open up as he was originally speculated to be back in late November/early December at the very earliest.

The 6'4 winger's return would be a welcome addition to the offense, as Fehr is a former 20 goal scorer in Washington, but struggled mightily with injuries the past two seasons.

Game time is 6:30 PM CT and available on TSN Jets and Fox Sports Florida.


Sources & Pictures

Yahoo! Sports

True North, Jets, & TSN Enter 10-Year Broadcast Deal

According to the National Post, True North Sports & Entertainment, the Winnipeg Jets hockey club, and TSN have agreed upon a 10-year broadcast deal.

TSN will have the regional TV broadcast rights for the Jets while Sports Radio 1290 will have the regional radio broadcast rights.

In addition, TSN plans to launch a specialty channel called TSN Jets, set to launch on September 20th.

With TSN Jets, sixty regional regular season games will be broadcast to viewers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwestern Ontario, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories.

As well, the Jets announced that former Moose play-by-play announcer Brian Munz, formerly of CJOB, will be the voice of the Moose on Sports Radio 1290 while Dennis Beyak, former play-by-play voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs, will do the play-by-play for TSN.

In addition to Munz and Beyak, two former NHLers, Stanley Cup champions, and Manitoba natives Shane Hnidy and Brian Engblom will join the TSN play-by-play staff as colour commentators.

Talking in a press release, President & CEO of True North Jim Ludlow expressed his feelings of the newly minted deal. “True North Sports & Entertainment and the Winnipeg Jets are ecstatic to have entered into this agreement with Bell Media. It is a landmark agreement for broadcasting and professional hockey in Winnipeg.”

“The 10-year term demonstrates TSN’s long-term commitment to Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Jets. We are also excited about the prospects for the future of Sports Radio 1290 and we are confident they will carry forward what has been a tradition of outstanding radio coverage of hockey here in Winnipeg.” (National Post, 8/31/11)