The Winnipeg Jets look to snap their ten-game losing streak when facing off against an Edmonton Oilers team riding off the back of captain Connor McDavid's recent rampant hot streak.
The Winnipeg Jets’ season continues to spiral after another late-game collapse, this time against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, extending their winless streak to ten games. It has been a season the team would rather forget, but Thursday offers a chance to start moving in the right direction with an impressive potential win against the back-to-back Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers. Winnipeg has earned only two victories since the beginning of December and will need to play with a desperate, high-compete mindset if they hope to build any momentum heading toward the end of the season.
Edmonton remains firmly in the Stanley Cup conversation, led by captain Connor McDavid, who is scoring at an elite pace with 75 points in 43 games. If the Jets want any chance of success, they will need to do what they always try to do against the Oilers and limit McDavid as much as possible.
Lineup Storylines
It appears the Jets may finally be listening to their fanbase. For weeks, fans have been calling on the organization to acknowledge that this is a lost season and to start evaluating what they have in their prospect pool. That process has begun, as the Jets recently recalled 22-year-old Danny Zhilkin, who is set to make his NHL debut against the Oilers.
Zhilkin is expected to slot in on the fourth line alongside Cole Koepke and Tanner Pearson, with the trio tasked with providing much-needed depth scoring. Outside of that change, the Jets’ lineup is expected to remain largely intact. Alex Iafallo will stay on the top line, while Jonathan Toews continues searching for his game centering the second unit with Cole Perfetti and Gabe Vilardi.
That second line showed signs of life Tuesday, highlighted by Perfetti snapping a 16-game goal drought. Toews picked up an assist on the play, while Vilardi helped spark the rest of the lineup as head coach Scott Arniel shuffled him throughout the game. Vilardi earned an assist on a Luke Schenn point shot while skating with Adam Lowry, then briefly returned to the top line, where the trio combined on Kyle Connor’s late go-ahead goal in the third period. While line combinations are likely to change multiple times again, the second unit has slowly started to find its footing.
The bigger concern remains the bottom six as forwards Adam Lowry and Morgan Barron have begun to heat up and have delivered timely goals, but Zhilkin enters as an untested rookie, and the rest of the group has struggled. Nino Niederreiter, Koepke, Pearson, and healthy scratches Gustav Nyquist and Vladislav Namestnikov have combined for just six goals and nine assists over Winnipeg’s last 25 games. Many of these players have rotated in and out of the lineup due to inconsistent play, and the group could benefit greatly from a bounce-back performance Thursday.
The matchup may offer an opportunity as Edmonton has once again run into issues on the back end, dealing with defensive injuries and goaltending inconsistency, surrendering 13 goals over their last three games. However, the Oilers remain dangerous because of their elite offense, led by Connor McDavid. The captain has been scorching hot, recording points in 16 straight games, including 11 multi-point outings, for a total of 39 points during that stretch.
Linemates Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman have capitalized on McDavid’s surge, combining for 16 goals over the same span. Edmonton now has five players averaging over a point per game during the run, with Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard also playing key roles. This offensive firepower is always a threat, and if the Jets hope to keep this contest close, they’ll need a defensive performance reminiscent of the team’s form from last season and the year before.
Goalie Matchup
Winnipeg: Connor Hellebuyck (Season: 9-11-4 record, 2.63 GAA, .903 SV% | VS EDM: 15-14-3 record, 3.01 GAA, .906 SV% in 32 games)
Edmonton: Calvin Pickard (Season: 4-6-2 record, 3.73 GAA, .873% | VS WPG: 3-3-1 record, 3.29 GAA, .896 SV% in eight games)
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