Thomas' Three Storylines - WPG @ VAN

MORE INJURIES
The win over Nashville on Thursday was a costly one for the Jets, as both Nate Schmidt and Blake Wheeler were injured during the game. Schmidt has an upper body injury thanks to a hit he took from the Predators Tanner Jeannot and will be out four-to-six weeks. Blake Wheeler had a procedure yesterday and is gone for four weeks with a lower body injury. Tonight, against Vancouver, Karson Kuhlman will make his Jets debut on the right side of Mark Scheifele and Cole Perfetti. Kyle Capobianco will play his fourth game of the season alongside Dylan Samberg on the third defence pairing. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby will come back into the lineup and will play on the right side of Kevin Stenlund and David Gustafsson.

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE
The month of December looks to be the most challenging when it comes to the amount of games alone (16). Tonight, Winnipeg will begin a stretch of five games in seven days that includes games in Vancouver, Seattle, Boston and Washington and a home game against Ottawa in the middle. Rick Bowness said that it is up to the coaches to manage the schedule, that is why the team left two hours later to Vancouver on Friday to allow for more rest for the players and the Jets won't actually practice until December 28th because they play so many games this month.
TWO HIGH SCORING TEAMS
It looks like there could be a lot of offence on the ice tonight with the Jets having the second most goals scored since November 25th with 45 in their last ten games. Vancouver is no slouch in the goals department either as they have 20 in their last five games. Although Vancouver is at .500 right now, they are 7-3 in their last ten games. Bowness feels they are dangerous as the Canucks need to make their push now to get into the playoffs and there will be a big push against the Jets on their home ice.