Jets fall to 8-1-0 on the season with 6-4 loss to Toronto.
The Winnipeg Jets have lost a hockey game.
After flying out of the gates to an 8-0-0 start and having won 16-straight regular season home games (dating back to last season) the Jets have dropped their first contest of the 2024-25 season.
Almost making it through October without a loss, Winnipeg fell behind 4-0 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday. Despite their best efforts, the Jets just weren't quite able to overcome the heavy first period deficit and lost 6-4 in a highly-entertaining affair.
John Tavares scored a hat trick for Toronto, while the Jets countered with a two-goal, four-point performance from Kyle Connor on the opposite side.
Toronto wasted little time getting on the board, as Tavares got the Maple Leafs' first goal of the game midway through the period. He picked up a perfect one-handed pass from Max Pacioretty and put the puck past Connor Hellebuyck for the 1-0 strike.
“They came out hard and we didn’t have good jump to start there," Connor said post-game.
Then, as the period was winding down, Pacioretty grabbed his second point of the game, assisting on William Nylander's sixth of the year.
Trailing 18-7 on the shot chart, the Jets were also outscored 2-0 in the opening frame. The only area to which they were beating the Leafs was in penalties taken - and both came from poor decisions by Logan Stanley.
The second period started with more of the same from Toronto, as the Leafs quickly made things 3-0 off a Matthew Knies goal 56 seconds in.
With Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner picking up the assists, Knies put home the disc on a goal-mouth, loose-puck scramble, bringing the thousands of Leafs fans in attendance to their collective feet.
Then, with just 3:25 drained off the clock, Morgan Rielly added to Winnipeg's nightmarish start. He snuck free from the point and picked up a slippery William Nylander backhand pass and ripped home a perfectly placed wrist shot, making it 4-0.
But, with Pontus Holmberg in the box for cross checking, the Jets were able to strike back. Kyle Connor got his seventh of the season, scoring off a cross-ice feed from Mark Scheifele.
Connor nearly got his second and third of the game on Winnipeg's second power play of the period, but the lanky Anthony Stolarz kept two Grade A chances out of the Leafs' net.
On Winnipeg's third-straight power play of the period, Connor did final another. With Rielly in the box for delay of game, Connor ripped a one-timer past Stolarz off a Josh Morrissey pass. It was his eighth of the season.
Toronto got back on the board with 2:07 left to play. Much like that of Dylan Samberg's off the endboards bank-shot goal, the Leafs got a similar looking play to count. However, it was an Oliver Ekman-Larsson shot that his the glass, bounced back in front of the net, to which Tavares tapped home his second of the game, restoring a three-goal lead for the visitors.
The Leafs led 5-2 after 40 minutes and remained atop the shot chart 31-15 heading into the third period.
Jets head coach Scott Arniel opted to change up his forward groupings and defence pairs for the third period, and his changes paid off quickly.
“Yeah, any time you can change the lines up and try to get a little spark, some new faces you haven’t played with, it can give you a little jolt," Connor said. "There wasn’t really much there, so it was kind of a last ditch effort. I’m sure Arnie can elaborate a little bit more on that.”
With a delayed hooking call in the works, Scheifele made it 5-3 on strong feed from Connor. The goal came with 12:24 to play.
Then, with just over nine minutes left, Simon Benoit took a tripping minor, giving the Jets yet another man advantage late in the game. But Winnipeg was unable to make anything of its chance, leaving itself trailing two goals and with its wining streak on the line.
But with Connor hungry for another tally, the Jets would not go down without at least swinging. With 3:47 to play, Connor ripped home his third of the game, on a play ultimately deflected in front of the net by Vilardi, making it a narrow 5-4.
Tavares finished things off for Toronto with an empty-net tally to complete his hat trick with 25 seconds left, securing the Leafs' fifth win of the year, and Winnipeg's first loss.
Hellebuyck finished the night allowing five goals on the 35 pucks directed his way, while Stolarz made 19 saves off Winnipeg's 23 shots.
The Jets will look to start a new streak as the week rolls on.
"We were hopeful to go 82-0 but that's never been done," Morrissey said. "It was a tough game for us. Obviously we got behind it 4-0 there with almost two periods to play.
"Felt like we did a good job of battling back there to make it 4-2, sort of got our legs going, then obviously let in another one. But we never quit throughout the night. We were 8-0 for a reason — we're 8-1 for a reason — but that compete to battle back, and make it a game so that we can pull the goalie and see if we could try to tie it up. I think that's the character of our group. We'll look at what we need to get better at, get some rest and move on."
Next up is another quick road trip, as the Jets face off against Detroit on Wednesday and then play in Columbus on Friday. Both games feature 'earlier than normal' start times at 6:30 and 6:00 PM central, respectively.