Hot-but-not-playoff-bound Jets end season against Predators
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- After posting their season-high sixth consecutive win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night, the Winnipeg Jets are officially the hottest team in the NHL heading into the playoffs.
In fact, the six straight wins is the longest streak since the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg six years ago.
Too bad the Jets were eliminated from the postseason race a couple of weeks ago.
Regardless of the pending tee times, there was still some joy in Jetsville as goalie Eric Comrie and center Jack Roslovic made their NHL debuts against the Blue Jackets. Comrie had 35 saves -- many of the highlight-reel variety -- in his 100th professional game. Columbus-born Roslovic played 14 shifts on the fourth line in front of more than 60 family members and friends.
Both are seen as potential vital cogs in the Jets' future but in perhaps the most extreme case of what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, the Jets sent them down to the Manitoba Moose on Friday.
"That was really exciting," the 21-year-old Comrie told the Winnipeg Free Press. "I was happy to get in there and the team did a really good job of keeping everything to the outside and it helped a lot. I went out there and played my game and had fun.
"I definitely got some touches early. Honestly, I was ready to go once my routine started. I was a little bit nervous before the game started, but as soon as I stepped in, my routine started happening, everything just kind of clicked and it was just another game for me."
The Nashville Predators come to town having beaten the Dallas Stars 7-3 on Thursday. Despite having locked up a playoff spot last week -- they're currently sitting in one of the wild-card spots in the Western Conference -- the Preds have been largely treading water the last month or so. They won't know their first-round opponent until the regular season wraps up Sunday.
Goaltender Pekka Rinne is raring to go in his sixth shot at the playoffs as the Predators' starter. The 34-year-old Finn is focused on the task at hand and told The Tennessean he isn't taking it for granted.
"I am so hungry," he said. "When you get older, you realize that you don't know how many chances you're going to get.
"I try not to make it this huge thing, that this is my opportunity. I try to learn from the past and realize the fact that you don't know how many times you're going to get this chance."
The work for Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, who doesn't need to be told again that he needs a starting goalie and another top defenseman before the start of the 2017-18 season, got a little more difficult this week with the release of ESPN's latest report that said the Jets were at the top of most players' no-trade lists.