NHL Hockey Betting: Edmonton Oilers at Winnipeg Jets

Two Canadian teams go at it on Sunday night at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg as the hometown Jets host the Edmonton Oilers. The Jets knew going into the season that they had their work cut out for them trying to make a return to the playoffs in the brutally tough Central Division. The problem is that they haven’t been nearly competitive enough. Heading into Sunday’s action the Jets are in last place 11 points back of the sixth place Colorado Avalanche. As far as the top teams in the division, there are likely AHL teams that are closer to the Blackhawks and the Stars than Winnipeg. The Jets trail the Central co-leaders by a whopping 26 points!

Even more disappointing–the Jets are at risk of finishing dead last in the Western Conference. Right now they’e getting a lot of help from the Calgary Flames (3-6-1) but their opponents tonight are showing a bit of resolve down the stretch. The Oilers got a stern talking to from GM Peter Chiarelli and after some house cleaning at the trade deadline the team started to wake up. They played hard in two losses in Southern California, losing to the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings by identical 2-1 scores. They then won three straight games capped by what might have been the team’s best game of the season, a 4-0 win against a Philadelphia team that had been playing very well. The Oilers dropped their next game 6-3 at Columbus but a letdown was almost expected for such a young team. Connor McDavid is the real deal. McDavid missed a good chunk of the season with his shoulder injury but that hasn’t stopped him from averaging a ridiculous 1.13 points per game. 24 year old Artemi Panarin (who is technically a rookie despite playing several years in the KHL) is putting up 0.92 points per game. The other ‘real’ rookies are all in the same range–Max Domi is averaging 0.67 PPG, Jack Eichel 0.65 PPG and Dylan Larkin 0.63.

The difference between these teams? Winnipeg is trying to figure out what went wrong while Edmonton at least has some direction. They’ll also have the best player on the ice with McDavid. Look for the Oilers to be competitive down the stretch.

BET EDMONTON OILERS +110 OVER WINNIPEG JETS