The Winnipeg Jets have remained focused amid their historic season-opening winning streak.
Meanwhile, victories have been hard to come by for the Toronto Maple Leafs lately.
Looking to remain undefeated, the surging Jets aim for a club-record ninth consecutive victory as they try to hand the visiting Maple Leafs their fourth straight loss Monday night.
Back in in the 1993-94 campaign, Toronto set the NHL record with 10 straight wins to start a season. The Buffalo Sabres also win 10 in a row to start the 2006-07 season.
With a win Monday, the Jets would join the Montreal Canadiens (2015-16) and the Carolina Hurricanes (2021-22) with nine straight wins to begin a season.
Cole Perfetti scored a tiebreaking power-play goal with 3:44 remaining in regulation as the Jets improved to 8-0-0 with Saturday night’s 5-3 victory at Calgary. Kyle Connor and Mason Appleton each added a goal and an assist for the Jets, who have tied the franchise’s longest winning streak and won 16 consecutive regular-season games dating to 2023-24 — one victory shy of Pittsburgh’s NHL-record winning streak from 1992-93.
“We’re feeling good, we’re playing great and the mood is really good,” Winnipeg’s Adam Lowry, who recorded two assists Saturday, told NHL.com. “There’s nothing better than winning.”
Under the guidance of first-year head coach Scott Arniel, the Jets have scored at least four goals in five games and have not allowed more than three in any contest. They’re 10-for-23 on the power play and killed 14 of 16 penalties. Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Neal Pionk and Mark Scheifele share the team lead with 10 points.
“Looking back on the stretch, there are areas of our game we still want to improve and there’s areas of the game we really like,” said Lowry, who has three assists in the last two games.
“It’s nice to bank these points early, and hopefully we can continue this roll.”
Winnipeg, however, is mired in an 0-4-1 rut against the Maple Leafs, who have scored 20 goals during a five-game series winning streak.
Toronto has surrendered 15 goals during its current 0-2-1 slide. The Maple Leafs twice led Saturday at Boston but fell 4-3 in overtime. The disappointing result overshadowed Auston Matthews’ fourth goal of the season that forced overtime and three assists from Mitch Marner.
“You got a point in this league; every point is huge,” Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who yielded a season-high four goals Saturday to raise his goals-against average to 2.19, told NHL.com.
Still, the Maple Leafs have totaled six goals in the last three games and are 0-for-10 on the power play during that stretch. They’re 3-for-30 with the man-advantage on the young season.
“It’ll come. I’m confident in this team,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “And they’re going to get it going, the power play.”
Joseph Woll could be back in Toronto’s net after he stopped 22 of 26 shots in Thursday’s 5-1 loss to St. Louis. It was the season debut for Woll, who opened on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
Marner has five goals with nine assists in 10 career games at Winnipeg. Matthews recorded his first two road points of the season Saturday and has six goals and four assists during a six-game point streak against the Jets.
Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck has a 1.66 goals-against average while winning his first six starts of 2024-25 but yielded three goals in each of his last four versus Toronto. Backup Eric Comrie has allowed three goals apiece in his two starts this season.
Kyle Connor, who leads the Jets with six goals this season, has just one point in his last four games against the Maple Leafs.
–Field Level Media
