The Winnipeg Jets and visiting Minnesota Wild begin their post-Christmas schedules Saturday with something to prove.
Minnesota intends to show it is positioned to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. Winnipeg wants to be competitive and put together a consistent 60-minute effort to stabilize a season that has drifted toward the edge of last place in the NHL.
After a Presidents’ Trophy-winning effort in 2024-25, the results for the Jets this season have been brutal.
“That’s 35 games, for me, of inconsistency throughout the games themselves, or from individual players,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said following Sunday’s road loss to the Utah Mammoth that was the Jets’ seventh defeat in their last eight outings. “In the remaining 47, that has to change.”
Winnipeg is 2-13-2 when allowing the first goal of the game.
“We’ll look for a solution over the break,” Jets forward Kyle Connor said about the first-period struggles. “Obviously that’s a focal point for us coming into the second half.”
The Wild enter Saturday third overall in the NHL, trailing only their Central Division rivals, the Dallas Stars, and the first-place Colorado Avalanche.
While that positioning could set the stage for an eventful postseason, coach John Hynes said his focus remains on getting there first and ensuring his team is playing the right way when the playoffs begin.
One area Hynes wants to see improvement is shot volume, particularly after a 3-2 overtime home loss to Nashville on Tuesday that sent the club into the holiday pause.
“It seemed like we wanted to play a little bit of a prettier game from an offensive perspective,” Hynes said after falling to the Predators. “It probably cost us some goals if you look at the opportunities we could have had in primetime areas when we (passed the puck).”
Another area of focus for Minnesota is the disparity between its home and road special teams performance.
At home, the Wild’s power play is operating at 25.9%, compared to 17.8% on the road. On the penalty kill, those numbers are reversed, with Minnesota posting a 67.9% success rate at home and an 87.5% rate while away.
Those numbers stand out, particularly after Minnesota went 2-for-4 on the penalty kill at home against Nashville and 0-for-3 on the power play.
“There’s no difference,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said when asked about the discrepancy in home versus away. “We definitely have to clean things up. … When we come back from this short break, it’s go time again. We’ve got to keep building.”
Both teams enter the game relatively healthy. Minnesota defenseman Daemon Hunt (undisclosed) was placed on injured reserve on Dec. 18 but could be an option to return Saturday.
–Field Level Media
