Despite there being no Winnipeg Jets’ game on last night, I still ended up spending the evening watching hockey. Instead of focusing on the National Hockey League, my Friday night was taken up by a pair of lower level contests as I switched between American Hockey League & Ontario Hockey League contests.
The Manitoba Moose were in Quebec to take on the Laval Rocket, one of the AHL’s top 5 clubs this season, so the Jets’ 17th overall ranked minor league affiliate had their work cut out for them. Especially since the Moose were without 3 players currently called up to the big league, forward Danny Zhilkin & defensemen Elias Salomonsson & Isaak Phillips. The Rocket flew out of the gates in front of their home crowd, outshooting the Moose 15 to 7 in the opening frame, yet the teams entered the first intermission deadlocked 1-1. The shots evened out over the next 2 periods (LAV 19-17), but Manitoba goalie Thomas Milic and Laval tender Kaapo Kahkonen were not willing to allow another puck to get by them. Overtime decided nothing, as the two clubs only managed a single shot on net in the extra period. So off to a shootout we went, with Nikita Chibrikov & Brad Lambert scoring for the Moose and Milic (.971 save % in the game) denying all attempts by the Rocket (now stopped 7 of 8 shootout attempts this year) to give our team the win.
The other match I was keeping an eye on was the OHL’s game between the Peterborough Petes and the Brantford Bulldogs. I was interested in this contest because it included a pair of Winnipeg Jets’ prospects in the Petes’ Kieron Walton and the Bulldogs’ Edison Engle. As an added bonus, Brantford is also the team that upcoming projected top 10 draft pick Caleb Malholtra plays for, so thought I would take the opportunity to see a kid who our Jets may get a chance to draft. The time spent was not wasted, as Walton continued his offensive output by being involved in all 3 Peterborough goals, netting a pair and adding an assist on a powerplay marker. Brantford’s Engle also performed well, finishing the match with a +1 rating and picking up a helper on 1 of his team’s 4 goals. Finally, the 6’2″ center draft prospect also impressed, as Malhotra had primary assists on both of the Bulldogs’ powerplay goals while piling up 9 minutes in penalties.
So, that is how I spent last night….but now it is time to switch my focus to Saturday’s action. The Manitoba Moose will be back at it against the Laval Rocket this afternoon (2 pm Central) before the Winnipeg Jets host the Toronto Maple Leafs at 6 pm Central. It appears that I’ll have another day filled with watching Canada’s favourite sport…and that makes me happy.
After losing 11 straight games, the True North franchise has turned things around to string up 4 victories in a row by downing the Kings, Devils, Islanders, & Wild. Tonight’s opposition is in kind of the opposite situation, as the Leafs had picked up at least 1 point in 10 straight contests before dropping their last 2 outings.
Winnipeg (19-22-5) remains in the 31st spot in the NHL standings (43 pts) with 8 points and 7 teams separating them from the Western Conference’s final wildcard spot. The Jets have scored the 20th most goals this year (141), while allowing the 16th least goals against (144).
Toronto (23-16-8) are tied for 11th in the league with 54 points, putting them 2 points back of the Buffalo Sabres & Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s wildcard spots. The Maple Leafs are one of the NHL’s best offensive squads, pocketing the 8th most goals in the league. On the other side of the puck, the Buds haven’t performed as well, with 8th most goals allowed (155).
Today’s game at the Canada Life Centre will kick off at 6 pm Central and here is how the two clubs’ year-to-date stats compare, via ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers:
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Winnipeg & Toronto’s overall statistics aren’t that different, which is a bit surprising considering the clubs are separated by 20 spots in the NHL standings. The Leafs do score more, but they also allow the opposition to light more red lights too. The Jets have the better powerplay, but also tend to take more penalties, so that may give the Buds’ some chances to work on improving theirs.
Both clubs are dealing with injuries, as the Jets will most likely be without a trio of defensemen in Neal Pionk, Colin Miller, & Haydn Fleury. The Maple Leafs will be without defenseman Chris Tanev as well, but they also have a couple game time decisions in forward William Nylander (missed practice yesterday) and goalie Anthony Stolarz (participated yesterday).
Since I am doing this write up earlier than normal, we will have to rely on PuckPedia’s line up projections at this point:
WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
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TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS LINE UP
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I am hoping that I will have time around noon to look into the respective coaching staff decisions on the line ups and will update the article once I discover something more concrete. The Winnipeg Jets & Toronto Maple Leafs split the season series last year and our club will need to win tonight to make that happen against this season.
Running out of time & things to say….so that will be it for now. Enjoy your weekend everyone!!
Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!
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POST-GAME INFO
Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)
FINAL SCORE: Toronto Maple Leafs 4 Winnipeg Jets 3 (OT)
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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected Goals (all): WPG 5.20 TOR 3.84
Expected Goals (5on5): TOR 2.59 WPG 2.51
The Winnipeg Jets used the powerplay to win the overall Expected Goals (xG) battle, but the Leafs actually slightly won it at 5 on 5…..which doesn’t include Toronto’s domination in overtime.
The Lowry line was able to score one of the Jets’ goals tonight, as did the old top line of Connor–Scheifele–Vilardi. MoneyPuck doesn’t have the 3rd one listed currently, but it appeared to be a mix with Iafallo & Namestnikov picking up points on the goal.
First game in a while that the Toews’ line really struggled, as they got absolutely owned tonight after being closer to 70% xG’s in their past 10 contests.
The 2nd pairing of Samberg-Salomonsson started off the game very well, dominating the xG’s, but in the end they had their fair share of difficulties versus the Leafs, allowing the opposition to outscore them 2-0. The Stanley–Schenn duo had nice advanced stats, but only ended up breaking even in the goal department. The top pairing of Morrissey–DeMelo did well in both categories, outscoring Toronto 1-0 while leading Winnipeg with a 68.7% xG rating. The third Jets goal is missing, but if it is the one I believe is uncounted at this point (Iafallo), then Big Stan was on the ice for it since he got an assist but I can’t be sure of Schenn (who had an assist on the Niederreiter goal).
I thought Hellebuyck played well in this one, but the advanced numbers say he was closer to average. Certainly made some big stops throughout the contest and didn’t have much of a chance on the OT winner.
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BOJA’S Post-Game Thoughts:
Well, the Winnipeg Jets reverted to the team that blows 2 goal leads and allowed the Toronto Maple Leafs to walk away with the extra point on Saturday. They continue to be a frustrating team, at times looking like the dominant force they were in the last regular season, but then quickly returning to the mistake prone, not paying attention to detail play that got them this far down the NHL’s standings in the first place.
Another one game road trip is coming up, as the True Northers will hop on a plane to go to the American Windy City for a match versus the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday. A big game when it comes to the battle for a good draft pick in the 2026 NHL Entry draft, the first of 3 remaining against their division rivals.
