The Winnipeg Jets finally managed to win a game on Friday night when they defeated the Los Angeles King 5 to 1. With their first win of the 2026 calendar year under their belts, the True Northers will look to continue a winning streak when the New Jersey Devils visit Manitoba for a Sunday matinee.
Both NHL franchises have struggled of late, with the hometown Jets on a 1-5-3 streak in their past 9 games, while the Devils matched their earned 5 points with a 2-6-1 record. Most recently, New Jersey is in the midst of a three-game skid, allowing 16 goals while only scoring three themselves. Therefore, teams should be pretty hungry when the puck drops this afternoon as they try to work their way back into playoff contention.
New Jersey (22-20-2) are currently six points out of the East’s final wild card spot, although they have to overtake four other clubs before they can catch the Washington Capitals. Defense and goaltending have been the team’s biggest problems this season, as they have the worst goal difference in the Eastern Conference (-22). Although several reporters have indicated that the Devils’ pursuit of the defender has failed Quinn Hughes coincided with their recent swoon.
Winnipeg (16-22-5) are tied with the Vancouver Canucks for last place in the NHL, leaving them 11 points behind a wild-card position and needing to pass six teams before they can challenge the Los Angeles Kings or Seattle Kraken for a playoff spot. As bad as the Jets have been this year, their goal difference of -9 is much better than that of the teams closest to them in the standings (Blues-47 and Canucks-37).
Today’s match at the Canada Life Center kicks off this afternoon at 1pm Central and here’s how the two clubs’ stats compare so far, via ESPN‘S comparison numbers of team and goalkeeper:
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Besides a slight goal-scoring advantage for Winnipeg, the rest of the data suggests the teams played a similar level of hockey in 2025-2026. New Jersey tends to shoot a few more times each game, but that hasn’t really translated into goals as the Jets are scoring almost half a goal more per game.
Both franchises are dealing with injuries at this point in the season, as the Devils will certainly be without three forwards. Zack MacEwen, Stefan Noesen& Evgenii Dadonov. The Jets also have three players in foul trouble, with defenseman Haydn Fleury & forward Morgan Barron (wore a contactless jersey yesterday) are not available to the head coach Scott Arniel and defender Neal Pionk be a decision about playing time.
Once again there will be no pre-game skate today, so we’ll have to rely on it PuckPedias list the projections for now.
WINNIPEG JETS ALIGNING
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NEW JERSEY DEVILS LINEUP
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A pair of New Jersey defenders return to familiar frontiers today as veterans Brenden Dillon & Jonathan Kovacevic returns to Manitoba, where they both practiced their profession for several seasons. With Kovacevic returning from injury, the Devils have opted to scratch Dougie Hamilton and according to reports, the club is looking to move the $9 million-a-year defender elsewhere to allow for youngsters Simon the German be a regular starter.
A quick scan of Winnipeg’s lineup didn’t turn up any former Devils currently playing for our team, but I could have missed something, so that statement may not be true. The Jets still have 13 games left before the Olympic break in February… so if the team wants to try to reach the playoffs, they probably need to start winning a lot more often. The True Northers last won two games in a row in mid-November, when they defeated the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets… Can they finally break that streak this afternoon?
Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!
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AFTER-GAME INFO
Score overview: (courtesy of ESPN)
FINAL SCORE: Winnipeg Jets 4 New Jersey 3
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Game Statistics: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected goals (all): WPG 4.61 N.J 3.60
Expected goals (5on5): WPG 3.23 N.J 3.15
Winnipeg’s top three forwards all played together between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. of ice time, with only the Toews’ trio winning the xG battle. They also excelled in the actual goals category, scoring a pair of Jets goals but allowing no goals against. The Scheifele The line ended with a -1 after one of New Jersey’s goals was allowed, but the center was ultimately on for all three goals against today. The Zhilkin line also had a 5 on 5 goal for the True Northers, while their final marker came a shift change (Perfect–Iafallo–Niederreiter).
Hat tip to that Cole Perfettiwho was the most notable Winnipeg player on Sunday afternoon. He’s been racking up points lately and perhaps a strong finish could push his points total closer to the expected second-line range. With a few great linemates Jonathan Toews & Gabriel Vilardi has given the smaller Fetts more opportunity to showcase his offensive skills.
Due to Miller’s early injury, the defensive combinations were in disarray, with the top two duos getting between 15 and 16 minutes and the other five getting between 3:00 and 4:30. The Morrissey–The Melo the pairing was break even in the game with 1 GF and 1 GA, while the Samberg–Pionk the line was only on for a Winnipeg goal. The Jets last two goals came with Morrissey & Stanley couples play together. New Jersey’s last two marks came when they caught the Jets switching their top 4, with Samberg–The Melo And Morrissey–Pionk get stuck on the ice.
Is it just me or is it true Hellebuyck giving up bigger rebounds than normal? The tender ended up being statistically slightly better than the average goalkeeper.
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I’ll update this article with the post-game information sometime today, but since the Manitoba Moose are also playing this afternoon… it might be a few hours after the final horn before I get around to compiling all the stats.
Some Winnipeg Jets prospects performed well yesterday as a pair of newly traded forwards made an impact for their new clubs. Big move forward Kieron Walton scored the opening goal in his first game with the Peterborough Petes and also scored in the shootout to help his OHL club to victory, while Grinder Kevin He also opened the scoring for the Flint Firebirds when he scored a short-handed marker as his club cruised to an easy victory. In the AHL it was defenseman Ville Heinola who played the biggest role in the Manitoba Moose’s victory, as the Finn set up his team’s opening goal before winning the match in the shootout (only skater out of 8 combined attempts to score for the Moose or IceDogs).
Enjoy the pleasant weather in the city as temperatures will be around 0 degrees Celsius in the coming days.
BOJA’S thoughts after the game:
The Winnipeg Jets didn’t play a very good game, but the New Jersey Devils rose to the challenge of making as many mistakes as our team. The result is a two-game winning streak for the True Northers, vaulting them to second-to-last place in the NHL standings.
They will have a tough challenge if they want to extend this hot streak as the visiting New York Islanders have performed at a high level this season since fielding their lineup. Matthew Schaefer with the first overall selection of the 2024 Entry Draft. Tuesday’s game also marks the end of Winnipeg’s five-game homestand.
#Jersey #Devils #Winnipeg #Jets