Jets face Rangers with playoff hopes fading. See Winnipeg's lineup as they push for the postseason while battling for draft lottery positioning.
The 26-27-10 Winnipeg Jets are set to host the 26-30-8 New York Rangers from Canada Life Centre on Thursday evening.
Two teams with major pre-season hype that have since waned out to a logjam at the bottom of the league in the sweepstakes for a high-ranked draft pick at the lottery.
Photo by Terry Lee/USA Today With Winnipeg finally snapping its point scoring streak on Tuesday night against Anaheim, the Jets will still maintain a push for the postseason and currently sit five points behind Seattle for the final wild card spot in the west, with three other teams to leapfrog.
On the flip side, the Jets are also five points out of 31st place, and currently sit 27th in the league with the sixth best odds at the No. 1 selection in this June's NHL Draft.
Winnipeg isn't expected to make any changes, personnel-wise again on Thursday, with Connor Hellebuyck getting another start in goal and Ville Heinola serving as the extra body.
Injured parties, Neal Pionk, Colin Miller, Nino Niederreiter and Vlad Namestnikov remain a ways away from a return to the action, so a more youthful lineup will remain in place.
Winnipeg Jets' expected line combinations for Thursday, March 12 vs. New York:
Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Perfetti-Lowry-Vilardi
Nyquist-Toews-Rosén
Koepke-Barron-Lambert
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Salomonsson
Fleury-Bryson
Hellebuyck
Healthy Scratch: Heinola
Injured: Pionk, Miller, Namestnikov, Niederreiter