The holiday break is almost here for the Winnipeg Jets and the rest of the National Hockey League. Today 26 teams will be in action, including the Jets, who will be in Toronto for an afternoon matchup against the Maple Leafs. Today’s game is a 1:00 pm CT puck drop, something you don’t see often on a weekday, but with the holidays in full swing there will still likely be a full crowd for this game, as well as plenty of eyes watching this game at home on TV/ online.

If you’ve been continuing to “standings watch” like I have, you’ll know that the Jets are still holding on to that prestigious (for what it’s worth) 1st place spot in the league standings. However, the Capitals, Golden Knights, Devils, and Panthers are all within 3 points of the Jets, with the Capitals and Devils having games in hand. The next closest team to the Jets is the 6th place Leafs, who are currently 21-11-2 with an impressive 14-5-0 record at home.

While the Jets and Leafs always make for a fun all Canadian matchup, the Jets have struggled lately against this Atlantic division opponent. The Jets are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games against the Maple Leafs, and in those 10 games they have a -15 goal differential. The 1st matchup between these two teams this season happened just before Halloween, on October 28th, 2024, where the Jets lost 6-4 in an overall exciting game that was featured on Amazon Prime’s “Monday Night Hockey”. Kyle Connor scored 2 goals and added 2 assists in that game, but it was John Tavares who led the Leafs to victory with a hat trick.

The Jets will look to use the momentum they’ve gained from their big 5-0 win against the Minnesota Wild. It was one of those games where everyone seemed to contribute to the win in some fashion, and Connor Hellebuyck earned his 4th shutout of the season while only needing to make 19 saves. Yesterday, the Jets did a final practice to prepare for this tough test before being able to rest for the holidays. Adam Lowry and Nikolaj Ehlers were absent from practice, but it was a maintenance day for Ehlers after recently returning from an injury. Lowry left the last game in the 3rd period, but all signs point to him being ready for this afternoon’s game.

The projected starting goalies are Connor Hellebuyck and Joseph Woll. Hellebuyck continues his Vezina calibre start to the season, and he’s looking for another strong performance against a team who isn’t afraid of generating a high number of shots on goal. Joseph Woll should be back in net for the Leafs, after giving Matt Murray his 1st start back from injury. In other lineup news, the Jets will keep rolling with the lineup that made them successful against the Wild. David Gustafsson remains in the lineup as the 4th line centre, while Logan Stanley and Rasmus Kupari remain as the healthy scratches. The Maple Leafs will be without star forward Auston Matthews again, who continues to be out after re-aggrevating an injury suffered earlier in the season.

You can catch this game on TSN 3/4, as well as on ESPN+ (regionally exclusive), with an early puck drop at 1:00 pm CT. This game should be a high flying contest with plenty of action, as both teams will be looking to head into the holiday break with a win. A happy holidays to you from all of us here at Jets Nation, and we will be back soon to provide the latest Jets news and content!

Kyle Connor — Mark Scheifele — Gabriel Vilardi

Cole Perfetti — Vladislav Namestnikov — Nikolaj Ehlers

Nino Niederreiter — Adam Lowry — Mason Appleton

Morgan Barron — David Gustafsson — Alex Iafallo

Josh Morrissey — Neal Pionk

Haydn Fleury — Dylan DeMelo

Ville Heinola — Colin Miller

Connor Hellebuyck

Eric Comrie

Scratched: Logan Stanley , Rasmus Kupari

Injured: Dylan Samberg (foot)