Wayne Bradley, February 26, 2019

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The Minnesota Wild hopes to continue its dominance over the Winnipeg Jets when the Western Conference foes renew their rivalry tonight in Winnipeg.

Minnesota has won all three meetings with the Jets so far this year, gaining at least some small measure of revenge after Winnipeg dusted them in a quick five-game series in the opening round of last year’s playoffs. In the most recent showdown between the squads, Minnesota jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, then held on for a 3-2 victory January 10 in St. Paul.

Can the Wild pull off another victory over the Jets tonight? Well, Minny’s certainly catching the Winnipeg at an ideal time. The Jets have struggled to get off the ground with any consistency of late, losing four of their last five games and giving up at least three goals in six straight. Sunday in Arizona, the Jets allowed four unanswered markers after potting an early goal of their own, suffering a 4-1 defeat.

But before you get too excited about the Wild’s attractive +135 moneyline price on the road tonight, there’s a few reasons the bookies are liking Winnipeg’s chances of taking care of business tonight at home.

The first is simply respect for how good the Jets are at home: 21-7-3-1, to be exact. When you’ve tasted regulation time defeat just seven times in 32 games, you’re going to be a healthy favourite every time you take to the ice. In fact, you could even make the argument that the Jets are a pretty cheap price in this one, considering their track record at home — even though Minnesota’s a respectable 16-14-0-1 in enemy territory.

The second is the different mindsets of these two teams right now. Although the Wild has won three in a row to regain its footing in the Western Conference playoff chase, this mini-burst comes on the heels of a five-game losing streak that may have convinced management to punt on the season. That’s what it looks like from the Wild’s trade deadline moves, at least, with Minny getting younger after dealing Charlie Coyle for 22-year-old Ryan Donato and shipping out Mikael Grandlund for 2014 first-rounder Kevin Fiala. On the other hand, the Jets were aggressive at this week’s deadline, picking up former 25-goal scorer Jimmy Hayes from the Rangers and also acquiring Matt Hendricks, Nathan Beaulieu, and several other depth players. Winnipeg’s clearly gearing up for another run at the Stanley Cup, which should have the players in the dressing room excited for this one.

The final edge I give the Jets here is their bounceback ability. Winnipeg’s got a strong history of rebounding from a poor performance, so I love getting them off a poor effort in Arizona. Heck, just last week the Jets were whipped 7-1 at Colorado, then responded with a 6-3 victory two nights later at Vegas to cash as +140 road dogs. Minnesota’s not likely to be as hungry tonight after winning three straight games. If the Jets bring full intensity from the opening puck-drop tonight, the more talented team should have its way in this one.