The Winnipeg Jets had a 3 game winning streak snapped last Friday in a lackluster performance against the Anaheim Ducks, but now have had a few days off over the Thanksgiving weekend to regroup for tonight’s upcoming Central Division clash. That loss dropped our club to a 3-1-1 record through the first 5 games of the National Hockey League regular season, which is good enough to have them 12th in the overall standings with 7 points.
The Minnesota Wild will be looking for their own 3 game winning streak if they can pull out a victory at the Canada Life Centre, after knocking off the Vegas Golden Knights & Florida Panthers in their most recent contests. Our southern neighbours have played one more match this year and hold a 4-1-1 record for 9 points, giving them the 6th best record in the NHL.
Both franchises have had difficult schedules to kick off the 2026-27 campaign, with the Wild squaring off with NSH, BOS, BUF, TB, FLA, & VEG while the Jets had to deal with BOS, DET, PIT, COL, & ANA. So far this season, Minnesota hasn’t dropped a contest in their home state and Winnipeg haven’t lost a road game. Neither of those will come into play tonight as the squads will be facing off in Manitoba, so I decided to see how the two rivals did last season. Well, they ended up walking away with identical 2-1-1 records…though neither of them were able to win in their home arenas. A trend True North fans will be hoping doesn’t continue tonight at the CLC.
The Jets & Wild’s early success has them battling for the top spot in the Central Division, a spot Minnesota currently occupies. With a win tonight Winnipeg could move into a tie for 1st (with equal a game in hand) with tonight’s opponents, though the Utah Mammoth could overtake both with a victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Here is how the division looks before Tuesday’s NHL action, courtesy of ESPN:
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Winnipeg’s players should be well rested and that could possibly give our boys an advantage this evening, since Minnesota had to play Vegas in Saint Paul on Monday night before travelling to Manitoba for tonight’s contest. The Jets may need all the help they can get too, as the Wild have been playing very well to start the year. They have only dropped points in a couple 3-2 losses, one in OT, to good clubs like the Buffalo Sabres & Tampa Bay Lightning, while all 4 of their wins have been by at 2 goals.
Lets take a look at how the two Central Division rivals have performed this season, via ESPN‘s Team Stats graphic:
As we can see above, the Wild have been good offensively, great defensively, and strong on special teams, making them look like one of the league’s elite squads. The advanced stats don’t entirely agree with that though, as Minnesota’s 5 on 5 play has only led to a 49.98% Expected Goals (xG’s) rating, good for 19th in the NHL. They do jump up the standings quite a bit when you look at all situations, making their xG number improve to 53.49% (8th best).
The Jets 2.60 goals per game would only equate to 213 goals in an 82 game season and since Winnipeg was low scoring last year with a total 231 markers…..that is not a great omen. The advanced stats from MoneyPuck tend to echo those concerns though, as the True Northers 43.33% xG rating for 5 on 5 play is only the 26th best in the NHL. With the special teams involved, our ranking does improve to 24th, yet the 46.43% xG rating is still below the break even line.
Up until the loss to the Ducks, both Minnesota & Winnipeg had been putting up excellent goaltending stats. The Wild have been riding young Jesper Wallstedt heavily, as the 23 yr old goalie has been in the crease for all 6 matches to date. With the back-to-back situation they are in though, I do expect that Calvin Pickard will make his season debut. The Jets will probably be returning to Stuart Skinner in between the pipes, after the low shot/high danger game versus Anaheim hurt Clay Stevenson’s stats while handing him his 1st loss with his new club. Here are the figures for the masked men for the Jets & Wild, via ESPN:
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The pre-game skates will be getting underway shortly, so the line ups below from PuckPedia will likely be incorrect. At yesterday’s practice, we saw Winnipeg’s Brad Lambert fall out of the top 4 while veteran Nino Niederreiter returned from the press box. That resulted in the forward units indicated below and I guess there is a chance that the defensive units may change. Star defender Josh Morrissey is not looking likely as he skated on his own yesterday, while Elias Salomonsson has shed the non-contact jersey but was still skating as an extra defenseman. Will that change today? Come back later to find out….I will update the graphics below once further info is available.
As I mentioned early, Minnesota will likely be going with their backup tender in this one, but will also have to touch the forward units since Nico Sturm took a puck to the head in the win over the Knights. Best wishes to him on a quick recovery.
WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
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MINNESOTA WILD LINE UP
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The Wild have had a few players start the campaign off well, as Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes both have 9 pts in 6 games. Other leaders include Jared Spurgeon (5), Maxim Shabanov (4), & Bobby Brink (4). The Jets have less high scoring skaters so far, with only Kyle Connor (8 pts) and Cole Perfetti (6) being able to compete with those guys.
Running out of time this morning…..so will have to let you all continue the discussion in the Comment section. What do you think about the possible changes to the forward lines? Is the same defense going to produce better results against Minnesota?
Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!