The Winnipeg Jets (12-9-0) are kicking off a 5 game road trip to the east coast….and they will be hoping things go much better than their west coast swing. The opening contest sees our squad visit DC to take on the Washington Capitals (12-9-2), who have been playing some good hockey lately, winning 4 of their last 5 games while averaging 5 goals for per game. So the True Northers will likely need to be defensively sound if they hope to end their 2 game losing streak.
Word has it that Neal Pionk won’t be out of the lineup for long, but his absence will help young defensive prospect Elias Salomonsson make his first ever NHL appearance. Head coach Scott Arniel has also did some juggling of the forward units in the most recent practice, suggesting that Morgan Barron will get a boost up to the 2nd line while Cole Perfetti drops to the 4th. The Caps are relatively healthy, though former Jet Pierre-Luc Dubois sustained a major injury and is expected to on the sidelines until March.
Let’s continue our look at Winnipeg & Washington by checking out ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers for tonight’s late night game (yet another 9:00 pm Central start):
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The above stats suggest that Winnipeg & Washington should be evenly matched, though the Jets do have an advantage in special teams’ success early on in the campaign. However, with tender Connor Hellebuyck recovering from surgery, the Capitals could have the advantage between the pipes. Yet, at this point, the opposition appears to be going with back up Charlie Lindgren over Logan Thompson, so the match up might be even after all. Speaking of the line ups, time to check out how PuckPedia is predicting the clubs to line up tonight (3 PM Central):
WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
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WASHINGTON CAPITALS LINE UP
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Looks like neither of the former Winnipeg players will be on the ice tonight, as Declan Chisholm might be press-box bound when his current club plays his former one.
Pretty hectic day for me….so that is about all I can manage at this point. Lets hear in the Comment section whether you think the Winnipeg Jets’ changes will result in an end of their losing streak? Are you excited to see how Elias Salomonsson does? Perhaps we will get a glance at what the future of the Jets’ RD position could be with the young Swede hopefully showing the coaching staff that Winnipeg won’t need bottom pairing options like Luke Schenn or Colin Miller next season.
Go Winnipeg!!!!!
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POST-GAME INFO
Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)
FINAL SCORE: Washington Capitals 4 Winnipeg Jets 3
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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected Goals (all): WPG 4.63 WSH 2.44
Expected Goals (5on5): WPG 2.56 WSH 2.18
All four forward lines gave up a 5 on 5 goal against versus the Capitals…..yet only the Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi unit could manage to score one (2 actually). The Barron-Toews-Nyquist line blew a couple great scoring chances and barely won the xG battle, yet they were heavily outshot. Rough night for the bottom six.
Another good outing by Morrissey-DeMelo, winning the xG battle and out-scoring Washington 2-0 at even strength. Stanley-Miller did okay in the shots/xG stats, but ended up allowing 2 goals against, which is the same amount the highly anticipated Samberg-Salomonsson duo did (though they were heavily outshot).
I didn’t think Comrie was awful and he did make some very good stops, but his rebound control was shaky and the Caps managed to out-score the xG’s by a goal & a half….so perhaps I was wrong.
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BOJA’S Post-Game Thoughts:
Once again the Winnipeg Jets gave up the opening goal against the Washington Capitals…..and it was an uphill battle from there. The True Northers did tie things up briefly in the 2nd period 2-2, but after that they were chasing the game and a late 3rd push couldn’t come up with the equalizer.
The offense from anyone not named Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, or Gabriel Vilardi has been way too hit or miss early in the 2025-26 campaign….and the Jets are going to lose a lot of games when the other 3 lines don’t contribute at all. Unfortunately, that has occurred way too often so far and things could get ugly if that doesn’t improve. For the next month or so, Connor Hellebuyck won’t be there to clean up messes and make them appear like they never even existed. That means it is time for a full buy in from everyone and maybe some adjustments by the coaching staff as well. I know that injuries have impacted the club right from the start, but the style of play is so far removed from last season, it doesn’t seem likely that they can get back there. Winnipeg did once again win the xG battle in a losing effort, something they have done in all of their 3 straight defeats.