RALEIGH - A four-game road trip comes to an end tonight as the Winnipeg Jets take on the Carolina Hurricanes.
So far, the Jets are 2-1-0 on the trip, with wins in Philadelphia and New Jersey (the only set back came on Long Island against the Islanders back on Tuesday).
The Jets (44-16-4) didn't practice on Saturday after the back-to-back games against the Flyers and Devils, and won't hold a morning skate with the early puck drop against the Hurricanes. With that in mind, any line-up changes made by head coach Scott Arniel won't be known until warm-up at Lenovo Center.
In the first meeting of the season between the Jets and Hurricanes back at Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg picked up a 3-0 shutout win with goals coming from Nino Niederreiter, Neal Pionk, and Rasmus Kupari. Two of those goals - the ones from Niederreiter and Pionk - came on the power play. The man advantage has been a weapon all season and has continued to be on this road trip. So far, the Jets have scored five times on seven opportunities, improving the team's overall power play percentage to 32.2 percent - which continues to lead the National Hockey League.
Friday's 6-1 win in New Jersey was just the second time the Jets picked up a win in the second game of back-to-backs, and they'll look to bring that momentum into Carolina to try and sweep the season series.
"We got through the neutral zone, we got pucks down in their end, and then from there we just pressured," Arniel said of the game at Prudential Center. "We had pressure on their forecheck and I thought we did a real good job of eliminating any kind of rush chances they were looking for and the four lines were golden and it was good."
As for the Hurricanes (37-22-4), they've won three in a row and will be playing their first game since the trade deadline. That means the Jets will serve as the opponents in Logan Stankoven's first game as a member of the Hurricanes. The 22-year-old Stankoven came to Carolina as part of the return of the deal that sent Mikko Rantanen to Dallas. Carolina sits second in the Metropolitan Division.
Stay tuned for line-up information from the Jets as it comes available.
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
