(SportsNetwork.com) – A pair of skidding teams will try to get on track
Tuesday night as the Winnipeg Jets pay a visit to Ohio to battle the Columbus
Blue Jackets.
The Jets have lost four of their last five games and failed to hold off the
St. Louis Blues in a 4-2 setback on Sunday. That gave Winnipeg a 1-2-0 mark on
its completed homestand.
Bryan Little and Jim Slater both scored go-ahead goals, but the Blues
countered each time before taking the lead for good 2:25 into the third
period.
Ondrej Pavelec made 25 saves and both game-tying goals for St. Louis came with
Winnipeg shorthanded.
Over their last four games, the Jets have yielded five power-play goals in 16
short-handed situations.
“We’ve played against some real top-tier power plays here the last little bit
and obviously we’ve got to get better at it,” said Slater. “The little things
creeping into our game that we’ve got to take out and once we clear that up we
should be good.”
Pavelec lost his fourth straight decision and tonight appears to be a good
opportunity to give the netminder a breather. Winnipeg will visit Buffalo on
Wednesday and Pavelec also has lost all five of his previous career meetings
with the Blue Jackets while posting a 3.04 goals against average and .897 save
percentage.
Backup Michael Hutchinson, who has never faced Columbus, is 3-1-1 in six games
(4 starts) this season with a 1.38 GAA and .948 save percentage.
Columbus will be aiming to avoid a fourth straight loss tonight after getting
topped 4-2 in Philadelphia on Saturday. Boone Jenner and Matt Calvert scored,
while Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves in defeat.
The Blue Jackets yielded a goal just 2:37 into the game and trailed 2-1 after
the first period and 3-1 following 40 minutes. They lost for the 12th time in
14 games.
“We didn’t get going like we wanted to, like we can,” said Jenner. “Not
everyone was going and it wasn’t a good enough effort as a group.”
The good news for the Blue Jackets is that they have won seven of their last
eight meetings with the Jets franchise and are 5-3-0 all-time at home in this
series.
Bobrovsky is 1-2-1 lifetime versus the Winnipeg franchise with a 4.10 GAA and
.877 save percentage, however.
