The Winnipeg Jets are now five games into their 2026-27 NHL regular season following a Friday night showdown against the Anaheim Ducks. The Jets are now exactly 13 days away from hosting the Montreal Canadiens at Princess Auto Stadium for the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic. The excitement for the outdoor game continues to build, but right now the focus is on the mostly early season success from this Winnipeg Jets team. Following a third straight 3-2 win (this time against the Avalanche), the Jets hosted the Ducks on Friday night.

Before looking at the Jets game upcoming schedule for the next week, we need to go back and quickly recap what took place at Canada Life Centre on Friday night. Clay Stevenson made his 2nd start of the season. Despite the total amount of goals in this game, there were only 17 shots on goal for each team. Judd Caulfield (not to be confused with Cole Caufield) scored his 1st career NHL goal to open the scoring for the Ducks last in the 1st period.

The 2nd period also saw just one goal, with Tim Washe scoring his first goal of the early season to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead. The Jets offence was very quiet in the opening 40 minutes, and Dostal was perfect for the Ducks making 13 saves. Sam Colangelo scored his 13th goal of his career early in the 3rd period to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead. Six minutes later Kyle Connor scored his league leading (tied with four other players) 6th goal of the season to get the Jets on the board. Mikael Granlund basically put this game away for the Ducks with a goal with six minutes remaining, and the Jets decided to pull the goalie late down three, but that plan didn’t work out as Nikita Nesterenko scored an empty net goal to seal a 5-1 win for the Ducks.

After four straight games decided by one game, the Jets finally had a game that wasn’t down to the wire, however it wasn’t in their favour. It’s difficult to win many hockey games with just 17 shots on goal, and when both teams get 17 shots on goal the game is basically up to which goalie was better. The Jets now have a 3-1-1 record, good enough for 2nd place in the Central Division.

Next up for the Jets is another home game, this time against a Central Division rival in the Minnesota Wild. Tuesday’s home game will be one of sixteen games around the NHL that night, as the league brought back the idea of the “frozen frenzy” for another year. All thirty two teams will be playing that night, with each of the games having staggered start times to allow for each game to be “in the spotlight” before the next game begins or ends. Puck drop at Canada Life Centre will just be 15 minutes later than usual with a 7:15 pm CT start time.

Following that matchup, the Jets have four games remaining before the Heritage Classic at Princess Auto Stadium on October 25th. Three of these four games are against Central Division opponents, starting with a game in Chicago on Thursday against the Blackhawks. The Jets return home for a Saturday afternoon (2:30 pm puck drop) game against the Carolina Hurricanes, the defending champions. Following two days off, the Jets head to St. Louis to play the Blues on October 20th. The Jets then head to Dallas on October 22nd to play the Stars for their last game before their Heritage Classic matchup against the Montreal Canadiens.

The 2026-27 NHL regular season is now fully underway, with all 32 teams in action on Tuesday. 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 next home game on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.

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