{"id":609659,"date":"2026-04-17T06:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/609659\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T06:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:24:11","slug":"jets-fall-flat-in-finale-turn-focus-to-draft-after-tough-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/609659\/","title":{"rendered":"Jets fall flat in finale, turn focus to draft after tough season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Winnipeg Jets<\/a> ended their 2025-26 NHL season on a sour note, falling 6-1 to the San Jose Sharks on home ice as the visitors scored six unanswered goals to seal the win on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Cole Koepke provided an early spark for the Jets, opening the scoring just 3:28 into the first period to give the home crowd reason to cheer.<\/p>\n

That momentum was short-lived, however, as the Sharks responded three minutes later and steadily took control of the game the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

San Jose was led by rookie standout Macklin Celebrini, who recorded a goal and two assists. The 19-year-old from North Vancouver capped off a remarkable season by setting a Sharks franchise record with 115 points, including 45 goals and 70 assists.<\/p>\n

Eric Comrie made 27 saves for the Jets.<\/p>\n

Difficult finish to season
\n\"3Cole Koepke (45) celebrates with Josh Morrissey (44) and Nikita Chibrikov (90) after scoring against the Sharks early in Thursday’s game. Koepke had the only goal of for the Jets. (Ray Peters)<\/p>\n

The loss marks the fourth straight defeat for Winnipeg to close out the campaign, a stretch that saw the club outscored 24-7. That skid included a 7-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers last Saturday, highlighting a tough end to the year.<\/p>\n

The Jets finish the season with a 35-35-12 record, a significant drop from last season\u2019s President\u2019s Trophy-winning performance of 56-22-4.<\/p>\n

Expectations were high heading into the year, but Winnipeg struggled to find consistency, particularly down the stretch.<\/p>\n

Bright spots remain
\n\"SeveralKyle Connor (81) appeared in all 82 games this season, along with several teammates. (Ray Peters)<\/p>\n

Despite the disappointing finish, there were individual highlights for the Jets.<\/p>\n

Mark Scheifele surpassed the 100-point mark, finishing with 103 points on 36 goals and 67 assists. He set a Jets 2.0\/Thrashers franchise record for most points in a season.<\/p>\n

Kyle Connor also had a strong campaign with 92 points, including 39 goals.<\/p>\n

Durability was another positive, with Scheifele, Connor, Gabe Vilardi, Jonathan Toews, and Dylan DeMelo all appearing in all 82 regular-season games.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead
\n\"AllThe Jets took time to salute the sold-out crowd at the end of Thursday night’s game. (Ray Peters)<\/p>\n

While 16 teams prepare to begin the Stanley Cup Playoffs this weekend, the Jets are turning their attention to the future.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg is slated to pick seventh overall in this year\u2019s NHL Draft as the organization looks to regroup and return to form next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Winnipeg Jets ended their 2025-26 NHL season on a sour note, falling 6-1 to the San Jose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-609659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}