Winnipeg Jets at Toronto Maple Leafs

Greetings from Toronto, where the Winnipeg Jets will attempt to start climbing out of the basement and snap a seven-game winless skid (0-4-3).

The Jets most recent loss came one night earlier, a 2-1 setback against the Detroit Red Wings.

Although they made a push and nearly tied it late, they were unable to overcome the 2-0 deficit that was the result of a sluggish opening period.

With goals so tough to come by right now, the Jets have to keep the effort levels up and continue to be committed to their defensive structure, while not just minimizing, but eliminating the mistakes that are ending up in the back of their net lately.

“It is a broken record. We’ve got to find a way,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said on the CJOB post-game show on Wednesday.

“Yes, I am very appreciative of the work ethic, the compete and all the stuff, but not (just) when we are down a goal. It has to be a constant, all the time. And it is tough to say, but we have to play a perfect game, an absolutely perfect game, which is hard to do in this league. Our goaltender is going to have to steal a game, our powerplay has to score and our penalty kill has to be at its best. It is gonna have to be, every piece that goes into a game has to be 100 per cent perfect.”

After Connor Hellebuyck made eight consecutive starts (split up by the holiday break) coming back from arthroscopic knee surgery, Eric Comrie will see his first game action since Dec. 11 against the Boston Bruins.

The Maple Leafs, who have won three of the past four outings (3-0-1) while scoring 19 goals during that span, will counter with Joseph Woll.

Since the Jets didn’t hold a morning skate on Thursday, any potential lineup changes won’t likely be known until the pre-game warm-up.

Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs should get a boost from the return of captain Auston Matthews to the lineup.

The Jets enter the new year in 32nd place in the NHL in points (34) and points percentage (.447) and are currently seven points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

But the Maple Leafs won’t be caught taking them lightly.

“I’ve seen them tons,” said Maple Leafs centre Nic Roy, who spent most of the previous six seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights. “They’re a big group. If you look at their first line, they can create a lot and (the Jets) have a good power play as well. It’s going to be a big matchup.”

Here are some other things to get you ready for the Jets lone visit to the centre of the hockey universe this season:

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: Another winnable game. Another inevitable loss.

Arniel described Wednesday’s outing in Detroit as a “broken record,” and I’ll go a step further and say it keeps playing the same sad song for the Jets. It’s incredible that Hellebuyck started the last eight games, let in just 20 goals (2.5 per night) and recorded only one solitary win. If this team had any real secondary scoring, they’d likely have won five or six of those outings and be sitting here on New Year’s Day on the cusp of a playoff spot.

If you exclude the empty-net goal against Edmonton on Monday, every loss in this seven-game drought has been by exactly one goal. This, from a team that went 19-4-4 in one-goal games just a season ago.

We’re so far past the point of silver linings and moral victories. One has to think that following this road trip, which concludes Saturday night in Ottawa, some type of change has to be coming. The Jets will have two days off before they begin a lengthy homestand, and at the very least there’s got to be an internal demotion or promotion, right?

With no morning skate today, the lineup is more projected than usual. I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of Cole Koepke, Haydn Fleury or Colin Miller draw back in.

I’m also wondering if it’s time to consider, even for just one night only, dressing 11 forwards and seven defencemen. This would allow Arniel to double-shift the likes of Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, with the idea that perhaps they could at least rub off on some ice-cold teammates.

Speaking of Scheifele, that wasn’t exactly a compelling response game from him in Detroit after being snubbed for the Canadian Olympic team. On a night when a single goal could have made the difference, he had zeroes across his stat line — goals, assists, points and even shots, which is highly unusual for him. This, despite his team having three power plays.

Yikes.

KEN SAYS: It feels like a long time ago when the battle between the top two picks in the 2016 NHL Draft used to take centre stage. During the Maple Leafs morning skate, the topic of Matthews going up against Patrik Laine was brought up by several media members. It used to be must-see TV and there were some fun meetings over the years.

Laine hasn’t played for the Jets since the opening game of the 2021 season and is currently sidelined with an injury after suiting up in five games with the Montreal Canadiens this season, while Matthews has grown into the captain of the Maple Leafs.

Matthews is off to a slow start by his standards with 15 goals and 27 points in 33 games but he’s racked up 13 shots on goal during his past two games and has recorded a goal and four points, showing signs he’s turning the corner offensively.

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews (Derik Hamilton / The Associated Press files)

The Jets offensive woes have been somewhat mystifying and now the top line that has carried them this season has gone two games without recording a point, which is a rarity.

Logan Stanley scored the lone goal on Wednesday for the Jets and he’s up to seven goals, which is an impressive number when you consider he’d never scored more than once in a season prior to this one.

Stanley is currently tied for fourth on the Jets in goals with Morgan Barron, but while his offensive output is welcome, it’s a reminder that a number of players haven’t been producing at the rate that was expected of them.

Jets winger Gustav Nyquist was left shaking his head when his glorious chance in the waning seconds of regulation time clanged off the post — marking the second time in the contest he thought he’d finally scored his first goal of the campaign.

Nyquist has been generating more opportunities of late and you get the sense that things might be about to turn for him, despite the frustration that must be mounting.

The veteran forward also made a diving play to prevent a Red Wings goal while the Jets were on a power play, so that’s another thing he will try to build on.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Barron-Lowry-Pearson
Perfetti-Toews-Iafallo
Niederreiter-Namestnikov-Nyquist

DEFENCE:

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schenn

GOAL:

Comrie
Hellebuyck

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Miller, D Fleury, F Koepke

INJURED: None

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

FORWARDS:

Knies-Matthews-Domi
Maccelli-Tavares-McMann
Cowan-Roy-Robertson
Lorentz-Laughton-Jarnkrok

DEFENCE:

McCabe-Ekman Larsson
Rielly-Myers
Benoit-Stecher

GOAL:

Woll
Hildeby

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Benning, F Quillan

INJURED: G Stolarz (upper body), D Carlo (foot), RW Nylander (lower body), F Joshua (upper body)

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube on what makes the Jets top line difficult to contain:

“They’ve got it all with that line. It’s been a real good line for a long time. Starting with Scheifele down the middle of the ice, he takes pucks and can distribute them. They can do it in all aspects. Off the rush, in the zone. They’re just hard to handle. They’ve got size and speed and they’re good around the net.”

WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON

Ken is in Toronto and will have an early story on Josh Morrissey becoming an Olympian and will also provide the game analysis for Friday’s paper and online.