The Washington Capitals struggled last season against the Jets in their former home of Atlanta. Perhaps a move to Winnipeg will shift the balance back in the Capitals' favor tonight.
The Capitals swept their six-game series with the Jets in 2009-10, but lost four of six to the then-Thrashers in Atlanta a season ago. They were outscored 10-2 in those games.
The Jets do have some momentum heading into this game after posting a solid 5-2 win over the Lightning on Monday. Five different players scored for Winnipeg and Ondrej Pavelec made 30 saves to help his club snap a five-game losing streak (0-3-2).
Evander Kane, Tim Stapleton and Dustin Byfuglien each had a goal and an assist, while Andrew Ladd and Mark Flood also scored in the opener of a three- game homestand.
"Probably one of our better team games that I have seen us play. We were excellent from the goalie on out," Jets head coach Claude Noel said.
Washington, meanwhile, is just 3-5-1 since opening the season with seven wins in a row and is coming off a disappointing 3-1 defeat at the hands of Nashville on Tuesday.
The game was scoreless through the first 55 minutes until the Capitals' Troy Brouwer scored at the 15:14 mark. However, the Predators tied the game just 28 seconds later and then netted the game-winner with 24.3 seconds left in regulation.
"That was a tough one to take cause we played as good as we can play," said Washington head coach Bruce Boudreau, who is still one win shy of 200 in his NHL coaching career. "We score the goal to take the lead and then we stopped playing."
Tomas Vokoun made 28 stops in the setback, Washington's fourth loss in five games. It also lost the opener of a three-game swing and fell to 4-4-0 on the road.
Defenseman Mike Green missed his second game in a row due to a strained right groin and is doubtful for tonight.
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