Jets and Avalanche to battle for home-ice advantage
It is pretty much determined: the Winnipeg Jets will face the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Assuming the Dallas Stars win at least one of their final two contests of the season, the Jets and Avalanche will finish the year as the No. 2 and 3 clubs in the Central Division, behind Dallas.
But determining that order will come down to the teams' final three games. With each club sitting at 79 games played, both the Jets and Avs will look to duke it out on Saturday in an afternoon game of extreme importance. Considered a 'four-point game', both clubs will look to pull ahead of their opponent by way of a regulation win, in order to gain some significant ground in the race for second.
Second-place carries with it home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs - and possibly later. So getting that extra game at home and the series start could have sizeable consequences for the way the first round plays out.
Sitting at 104 points apiece, the Jets and Avalanche are tied and own identical 49-24-6 records on the season. Winnipeg, however, owns the tiebreak and would finish higher than Colorado if it concludes the year tied with the Avalanche, points-wise, no matter the outcome on Saturday.
So, Winnipeg would need to only match Colorado's output over its final three games this season.
The Jets are expected to go with the same lineup they used in their 3-0 shutout of the Dallas Stars on Thursday, with the exception of Connor Hellebuyck coming in for Laurent Brossoit. Head coach Rick Bowness also mentioned that a few of his players were 'banged up', so there is the possibility that a substitution may be made in advance of puck drop.
The game begins at 3:00 PM central time from Ball Arena, and can be viewed live on TSN.
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