I hope everyone had a good time with their family and friends over the past couple of days….but the good times are about to end as our disappointing Winnipeg Jets (15-17-3) will be stepping back on the ice today. The True Northers returned to Manitoba for the holidays after a winless 3 game road trip, which is the largest part of the 4 game skid the hockey team is on.

The post-Christmas standings show today’s opponent at the opposite end of the standings, with the Minnesota Wild (22-10-6) holding the 3rd best record to date compared to our Jets’ 3rd worst stat line. Our southern neighbours recently had a 7 game winning streak ended, so Minny will be looking to get back into the win column after dropping contests to the Colorado Av’s & Preds.

With the Wild’s recent acquisition of star defenseman Quinn Hughes, GM Bill Guerin has signaled Minnesota’s intention to challenge fellow juggernaut Central Division clubs like the Colorado Avalanche & Dallas Stars. The trio of franchises are looking formidable as the NHL schedule nears its midpoint, as their win-loss records are better than the league’s other 29 squads.

Coming into action today, Winnipeg is 17 points back of Minnesota in the standings, though they do have 3 games in hands that could reduce the gap somewhat. Regardless, it will remain a significant obstacle to the Jets coming back in the second half of the year to grab one of the Central’s top 3 spots. So that got me to thinking about how difficult the True Northers’ remaining games will be? Opting to break down to the competition into 3 categories, the top 11 clubs/the next 11 squads/the final 9 teams, I created the graphic below to help us look into that matter:

Winnipeg has 47 contests left in the regular season and their quest for a playoff berth will be challenged by 40% of those games going against the NHL’s top 11 teams. The Jets do play 32% of their matches against the league’s bottom dwellers, but since that is where their record has them sitting that might not be a huge advantage.

The low number of games scheduled in February is due to the Olympic break and the True Northers will play 21 contests before that occurs. This upcoming stretch of games will determine if the Jets can use their games in hand to work their way into a wildcard spot. At this point, the Utah Mammoth hold the 8th spot with 39 points, a 6 pt lead on Winnipeg but with 4 more games in the books making a comeback appear more possible.

It all starts with tonight’s 6 pm game and here is how Winnipeg & Minnesota’s seasons to date have gone, via ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers:

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The data doesn’t indicate that Minnesota has been that much better than Winnipeg in 2025-26, though they do allow a half a goal against less per game than our team. The special team numbers are similar, as is the offensive production from the division rivals. The Wild have received great goaltending and the Jets typically get that type of performance when Connor Hellebuyck is in between the pipes.

I haven’t seen any reports yet about any line up changes head coach Scott Arniel might make after having a few days to ponder a way to fix what ails his team. So we will have to rely on how PuckPedia is predicting things for the time being.

WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP

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MINNESOTA WILD LINE UP

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I’m hungry….so no thought on the line ups for either team. I will note that current Winnipeg Jet & former Minnesota Wild player Mason Shaw is representing Canada at the Spengler Cup during the AHL holiday break. The feisty forward has made his mark already, pocketing a goal for his country in their opening victory. Keep it up Mason!!

Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!

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POST-GAME INFO

Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)

FINAL SCORE:  

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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)

Expected Goals (all): 

Expected Goals (5on5):  

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BOJA’S Post-Game Thoughts:

Should have the scoring summary, shot chart, advanced stats, video recap, and my observations from the Jets-Wild contest added to the above article around 10 pm. Enjoy your day and will see you back here tonight to share our thoughts on the action.