The Winnipeg Jets are now twelve games into their 2026-27 NHL regular season following a Tuesday night home game against the Florida Panthers. The Jets hosted the Montreal Canadiens at Princess Auto Stadium for the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic on Sunday. The Jets alumni lost 7-4 against the Canadiens alumni game on Saturday night, and the Jets fell 2-1 to the Canadiens at the Heritage Classic, marking their 5th straight loss (at the time). Tonight the Jets fell to 4-5-3 on the season after a 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.

Before a very quick recap of my personal experience at the Heritage Classic weekend (including the alumni game, the pre-game and the outdoor game), we have to look at what went wrong on Tuesday night’s game against the Panthers. Tonight it was a battle of the backup goalies, as Akira Schmid and Clay Stevenson took the creases at Canada Life Centre.

The first five minutes of the game were even in terms of scoring chances, before Cole Koepke took the first penalty of the game a minute later. Carter Verhaeghe notched his 7th goal of the season on this powerplay, and Brady Tkachuk and Seth Jones picked up the assists. Just over a minute later Niko Mikkola made it 2-0 Panthers with a wrist shot from near the faceoff dot. The Panthers didn’t stop there, as less than two minutes later (on a powerplay for the Panthers after the Jets had too many players on the ice) Carter Verhaeghe scored his second of the game.

Despite the shots on goal being 8-6 for the Jets after the opening twenty minutes, the Panthers led 3-0. Clay Stevenson allowed 3 goals on the first five shots by the Panthers, and the Jets were unsuccessful with their one powerplay opportunity later in the opening frame. Things settled down in the first half of the 2nd period, with both teams generating five shots on goal. The Panthers had another powerplay opportunity after DeMelo was called for tripping, but the Jets kept it at 3-0.

The Jets finally got on the board courtesy of a Adam Lowry shorthanded wrap-around goal. Schmid failed to make a pass after controlling the puck behind the net. Schmid made a diving attempt to stop Lowry’s wrap-around, but after a quick review it was clear that the puck crossed the line. Unfortunately the penalty wasn’t killed off after the goal, as Sam Reinhart made it 4-1 for the Panthers less than a minute later.

Once again the Jets got a late powerplay opportunity, but the man advantage continued to struggle as the game remained 4-1 after forty minutes played. Shots on goal in the second frame were 11-10 in favour of the Panthers, and it was now going to take an epic come from behind effort in the 3rd period if the Jets wanted to snap their current five game losing streak.

However, that losing streak (which has featured some close games) continued. The Jets tried to claw back in the 3rd, but they couldn’t get too much going. Brady Tkachuk made it 5-1 Panthers with 8 minutes remaining, and his brother Matthew Tkachuk picked up his 4th assist of the night on this goal. It’s tough to fault Stevenson for a few of the goals tonight, but allowing 5 goals on 20 shots is never ideal. Final score on this Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre was 5-1 for the Panthers. Final shots on goal were 25-24 for the Jets. That’s now six straight losses for the Jets.

In terms of my experience at the Heritage Classic this weekend, I could go on and on about all the fun I had, but simply put it was a very well executed sporting event that I won’t forget. Of course it was a bit disappointing that the Jets couldn’t get the win (both in the alumni game and the Heritage Classic), but the vibes and the overall atmosphere at Canada Life Centre, the pre-game outside, and at Princess Auto Stadium this weekend were unmatched. This was my 2nd time in Winnipeg (after watching a game last March against the Islanders), and it was great to go back and watch the team that I continue to write about over the past few years.

The 2026-27 NHL regular season is now almost 15% complete, with another busy night of hockey coming up on Thursday. Stay tuned here on Daily Faceoff Winnipeg for the latest news on the Jets regular season, as well as articles to preview and recap the Jets opening game of their upcoming four game road trip starting in Tampa Bay against the Lightning on Thursday night.

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