The True North franchise might be feeling a bit like Bill Murray these days, as our hockey team seems mired in a Groundhogs Day situation as they appear destined to repeat their early season 11 game losing streak of the NHL’s 2025-26 campaign. Before action on Friday night, the Winnipeg Jets losing skid was at 8 games and they had another difficult opponent on tap in the form of the Florida Panthers.

Coach Scott Arniel continues to try anything he can think of to find a way to squeeze out some offense from his players, this time opting to go with a 11 forward & 7 defenseman breakdown. Unfortunately the changes didn’t bring along the results he wanted, as once again the Jets allowed the contest’s opening goal (on a PP late in 1st). Winnipeg also struggled to create any quality scoring chances until a 5 on 5 man advantage in the 2nd period allowed them to take the lead in the Expected Goals (xG’s) battle. Yet a beautiful goal by Kyle Connor on that only allowed our guys to pull within 1, as they had given up a goal to Florida in the early part of the middle frame.

That was about as close as the game would get, as the Panthers would add another PP goal before the intermission. While Morgan Barron did make it 3-2 FLA just prior to the midway point of the 3rd, any hope of a comeback was dashed by Anton Lundell’s 2nd goal of the game (would complete the trick into an empty net).

So the losing streak increased to 8 and with the Carolina Hurricanes & Montreal Canadiens on tap, there isn’t any relief in sight.

POST-GAME INFO

Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)

FINAL SCORE: Florida Panthers 5 – Winnipeg Jets 2

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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)

Expected Goals (all): FLA 4.55 – WPG 2.57

Expected Goals (5on5): FLA 1.96 – WPG 0.65

The Winnipeg Jets put up a pitiful 0.65 xG’s at 5 on 5 on Friday night…..which is less than half of their previous low mark.

6 different forward units had more than 3 minutes of playing time…..only the two least played lines listed above won the xG battle. The Morgan Barron trio was the only one to score a 5 on 5 goal for the Jets, while the 2nd Mark Scheifele & the Viggo Bjorck lines gave up goals to the Panthers.

5 different defensive pairings used against Florida, with the Dylan Samberg–Neal Pionk having a rough one statistically. They did give up one of the goals to the Cats, while the other one was versus the Mario Ferraro–Dylan DeMelo pairing. Winnipeg’s only 5 on 5 goal came with Haydn Fleury matched with DeMelo.

I pretty much agree with the GSAE stat on this one…..Nico Daws probably would have wanted to stop 1 of the goals against to get to the good start range and 2 if he wanted to reach the great one. I seem to recall a pair of goals that he “could have had”, but right now can only bring up the Panthers’ opening PP goal where he was caught a little to deep in his net when he should have been challenging the shooter more (since Samberg was purely playing the pass). I’m not sure how any of Winnipeg’s goalies can have a strong level of confidence with the Jets skaters’ recent level of play.

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BOJA’s Observations:

This article is already late getting up…so I will keep these brief (yeah I said that, but then went on for multiple comments anyways).

First, I do feel a bit sorry for those True North fans who only follow the Winnipeg Jets closely…because I find that often when our NHL club is doing poorly, their AHL affiliate Manitoba Moose tend to have a good year. Last year was an exception as the mini-Jets were just okay while their big brothers were having a terrible campaign. Yet in 2026-27, the Moose might be one of the AHL’s better squads. Currently tied for the top spot in the standings, Manitoba have piled up a league high 47 goals in 12 contests while also playing fairly well defensively. One knock is the amount of penalties the team has taken so far, but in my “unbiased” opinion the officiating in the minors is just awful. If you have a lead, expect a parade to the box until the other team ties the game….yet the Moose fought back on that trend last night, as they pocketed FOUR shorthanded goals against the Rockford IceHogs. That tied a minor league record that was set way back in 1988. A FloHockey membership isn’t that expensive and will give you the ability to watch all Moose games (all AHL games actually, plus OHL, QMJHL, USHL, & some NCAA games too). If the Jets are frustrating you too much and you still feel the need to watch hockey….might be something you want to check out.

I really don’t see any fix for Winnipeg’s current situation on the roster or in the minors. Sure there are things you give a try like calling up players who are excelling in the AHL, Noah Gregor & Brayden Yager, and trading some dead weight like Nino Niederreiter & Vladislav Namestnikov. Yes, rookie Viggo Bjorck could be sent down to rediscover his offensive confidence and trading one of the 3 goalies would give the coaching staff more options when picking the skaters for each game. But I really don’t see the Jets trading for help, since the options will be fairly limited as are the assets required to obtain anyone (don’t even think about trading the 2027 1st). So what does GM Kevin Cheveldayoff do? Convince ownership that the only route forward is a rebuild and then start talking to the older star players about whether they want to go through it or not? Or just continue to struggle through the highwire-like path of trying to remain competitive while trying to mix in a youth movement at the same time?

If you ask me, Winnipeg’s biggest need is a couple more top six level forwards, which would allow them to spend more time in the opposition’s zone and thereby make the Jets’ defenders much more effective, as well as giving our goaltenders a break. For a club that is on way too many No Trade lists, that is a massive ask.

Alright…lets end on a positive. Last night against Florida our club was awful at 5 on 5…with one exception. 4th line center Morgan Barron was the Jets’ best forward by far, putting up a team high 44% xG% and getting 0.229 xG’s in the game. While that may not seem like a whole lot, the next best Winnipeg player at even strength was Cole Koepke’s 0.092 xG’s. Bear hopefully got the monkey off his back too by scoring his 1st goal of the campaign.

UP NEXT: WINNIPEG JETS @ CAROLINA HURRICANES – SUNDAY, NOV 1ST @ 12:00 PM