The Jets couldn’t solve Calvin Pickard on Monday night, losing 3-1 to the Edmonton Oilers. Tonight, on New Year’s Eve, the Jets played their final game of 2025 against the Red Wings. Little Caesars Arena was the host for tonight’s game, as the Jets looked to get out of the bottom of the NHL league standings. The now 15-18-4 Jets took on the 23-14-3 Red Wings, with both teams looking for 2 points to conclude the 2025 portion of their 2025-26 season.

There were no changes to the Jets lineup tonight, as they stuck with the combinations they used against the Oilers. Gabriel Vilardi remains on line 1, playing alongside Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele. Alex Iafallo stayed on line 2, Morgan Barron stayed on line 3, and Vladislav Namestnikov remained on line 4. Logan Stanley continues to cycle between three different defense partners (tonight it was once again Luke Schenn), after Colin Miller and Haydn Fleury were previously in Schenn’s spot.

Connor Hellebuyck got another start in goal, as Hellebuyck continues to have a heavy workload since returning from injury. Eric Comrie should start in goal tomorrow night against the Maple Leafs. The Jets lineup continues to be fully healthy and injury free. Hellebuyck entered tonight’s game with a 9-9-3 record, a 2.53 GAA and a solid .908 SV%. The Jets scoring woes continued tonight, and despite another Logan Stanley goal, the Jets lost another one goal game, finishing 2025 on a 7 game losing streak.

Tonight’s game started pretty evenly, with the Red Wings slightly outshooting the Jets. Josh Morrissey took the 1st penalty of the game, a roughing call on Dylan Larkin. Just over a minute later, Dylan Larkin scored his 21st of the season. Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider set up Larkin who was circling back near the point, and he snapped one up past Hellebuyck to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead.

The Jets couldn’t respond to this opening goal, and 6 minutes later, the Red Wings made it 2-0. Former Jet Mason Appleton scored his 5th of the season after Michael Rasmussen sent J.T Compher in on a 2 on 1. Compher waited and made a nice pass to Appleton who was unmarked and snapped it into the net.

The rest of the 1st period went without any penalties or goals. The Red Wings outshot the Jets 10-5 in the opening 20 minutes, and looked like the team in control of the game for the majority of the 1st.

The 2nd period went without a goal, but this time the Jets outshot the Red Wings 11-6. Each team got two powerplay chances. Although the 1st powerplay opportunity for each team came early in the 2nd, it was likely the better of the powerplays for both teams. The 2nd powerplay for each team was shortened, as the Red Wings took a penalty just 20 seconds after the Jets did with just over 7 minutes left in the 2nd.

It was a decent response by the Jets in the 2nd, but the goal scoring continues to not be there. With 20 minutes to play, the Jets were facing ending 2025 in last place in the entire NHL league standings.

The 3rd period was another solid period for the Jets, outshooting the Red Wings again, this time 8-3. After a Red Wings turnover near their blue line, Jonathan Toews found Logan Stanley on the wing. Stanley went just below the faceoff dot and fired a wrist shot that fooled John Gibson and finally got the Jets on the scoreboard.

Stanley 7th of the season puts him tied with Morgan Barron for 4th on the Jets in goals. Stanley is having a great season, but only 7 goals as a team’s 4th highest goal scorer near the halfway point is the season is simply not good enough. Dylan Larkin took the only penalty of the 3rd, a holding call at the 8:24 mark.

The Jets couldn’t capitalize on this powerplay, and the Red Wings continued to hold on to a 2-1 lead. With just over 2 minutes left, the Jets pulled their goalie, attempting one final push at a game tying goal. There were a few “almost” good chances, but in the end nothing good enough to tie this game.

Final shots on goal were 24-19 Jets, and now the Jets are 0-4-3 in their last 7 games. The month of December was pretty close to a disaster for the Jets, finishing with just two wins. Perhaps a new year can bring the Jets back to life, but right now it’s looking like the Jets need to address what’s wrong with this team, and re-assess their plans for the rest of the season and moving forward.

The Jets will now look to quickly reset before playing their first game of 2026, as their regular season schedule continues with a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. Puck drop for this game will be just after 6:00 pm CT. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for all of the latest Jets news, plus previews and recaps on each Jets game this season.