The Winnipeg Jets will be looking for some revenge when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday afternoon.
The Maple Leafs defeated the Jets at Winnipeg 6-4 on Oct. 28. It was the first loss of the season for the Jets after they had opened the season with eight straight wins. They won seven in a row after that loss to go 15-1-0.
The Jets will try to repeat the way they played Saturday in a 5-0 home win over the Minnesota Wild with Connor Hellebuyck earning his fourth shutout of the season.
“Another game like that, exactly,” said Cole Perfetti, who had a goal and two assists. “I have noticed we’ve had a tough time against Toronto the last few years. A lot of skill over there, and hopefully we can get one more on the road and hopefully head into Christmas feeling good.”
Toronto was 2-0-0 against Winnipeg last season.
The Maple Leafs had their three-game win streak end with a 6-3 home loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday despite two goals from William Nylander.
Auston Matthews (upper-body injury) was out Saturday after scoring a goal on Friday in the 6-3 road win over the Buffalo Sabres. The Maple Leafs’ captain was crosschecked on Friday, aggravating an injury that already had cost him nine games.
“He’s just doing everything he can to help this team,” said John Tavares, who had one assist on Saturday. “I know it’s very tough on him to miss games, and he does everything he can on a daily basis to prepare himself, not only to play at the highest level but to be healthy. He’ll continue with everything he needs to do to get back as soon as possible.”
The more rested Islanders scored twice in the first 4:48.
“You’re on a back-to-back, fresh team waiting for you who hasn’t played in a while and we give up two two-on-ones in the first five minutes of the game,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “That’s how I see it, just not very smart. A little (surprising). Early on in the period, they were better than us, on their toes and we weren’t very smart.
“I get they’re rested and they’re going to be a little more quicker, but we have to be smarter than that. You can’t give the freebees, and we gave them two right away and got behind. Wasn’t a good game.”
The Jets have evened out since their 15-1-0 start, going 9-9-1 since.
The Jets were coming off a 3-2 road loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. They took advantage of the Wild, who had played on Friday.
“I would say it’s probably one of our better efforts in the last few games here,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “We went after them in the first period and kind of continued that through the three periods. Liked a lot of our compete, our little details. A lot of good things that happened.”
After going 2-for-5 against Minnesota, Winnipeg’s power play is 11-for-28 over the past seven games.
“They’re extremely confident going out on the ice,” Arniel said. “That started at the very beginning of the year and it’s built. Our work ethic and our ability to get pucks back if we happen to not have it on our stick. Our movement and our attack mindset, all of those things have been pretty consistent.”
–Field Level Media
