^{The Mammoth look to shoot down Winnipeg’s hopes of a win at the Delta Center}

October 26, 2025. The Mammoth play the Jets after a successful homestand. Dylan Guenther scores a game winner against the Jets, beating them at home 3-2 for Utah’s 7th straight win. Vitek Vanecek started, giving up 2 goals and .933 save percentage, as he was showing to be a trusted backup to Karel Vejmelka. The win put Utah at the top of the division and conference, knocking Winnipeg down to third.

Oh man, those were good times.

We know of Utah’s troubles since the pinnacle of their season, but Winnipeg went from 2nd place to tied for last in the division. What happened? Like usual, injuries really derailed the Jets.

American Thanksgiving and Canadian Thanksgivings are celebrated at different times. The American one did not make the Jets thankful at all. Between the Utah game and Thanksgiving, Winnipeg went 6-7. Since the game before Thanksgiving, the Jets have been just 3-7-2, the second worst points percentage in the league. The Mammoth, meanwhile, were just 2 points better, but had one more game played in this time.

As bad as that record has been, Winnipeg’s only successes really were at home. On the road they’ve been terrible lately; their past two trips have resulted in just a 1-6-1 record in their past 8. Tonight marks their last of 3 games on the road, leading to a nearly week long break before they take on Minnesota at home on Saturday.

The main reason Winnipeg fell off a cliff was due to the loss of Connor Hellebuyck. With him gone, Winnipeg went 3-8-1. Their entire identity flipped; the Jets outscored opponents by a .5 goal a game margin, scoring more than 3.2 goals for, and giving up less than 2.8 against. With Hellebuyck gone, they gave up 3.67 goals a game, scoring just 2.67 in that same time. Their 24% power play dropped to just 13%. Penalty kill suffered, going from 84% to 64%.

Hellebuyck returned from knee surgery on December 13th and the Jets hoped his return would change their fortunes. However, in the 4 games since he returned, he’s 1-2-1, despite a 2.0 GAA and .926 save percentage. He’s been the victim of a scoring drought; losing 3-2 vs. Colorado on Friday, shutout on Wednesday against the Blues, and losing 3-2 in OT vs. the Senators. His only win was the first game back, against Washington, in a 5-1 romp.

Hellebuyck isn’t the only piece that’s back. Haydn Fleury was also on IR, but reactivated against Colorado Friday.

So, with a healthy and fully manned Jets squad, what does Utah need to do to succeed?

Key points to secure a victory today:
Grounded Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor are the heartbeat of the Winnipeg offense. So far, both lead the team with 41 points – Scheifele with 17 goals and Connor with 15. The two Jets stars are at a 1.21 per game pace; Utah’s best point producer is Nick Schmaltz who is producing just at 0.84 points a game. Schmaltz’ production is just under Winnipeg’s third best player, Gabriel Vilardi, who is averaging .88 points a game.

With all that scoring, how can Utah hope to compete?

Well, simply put – Scheifele and Connor need to be grounded and held at bay. With those two contained, Vladislav Namestnikov and Vilardi’s production isn’t enough to overcome what the other two bring. Namestnikov’s got 6 goals for the year (tied for 3rd with several other forwards), and Villardi’s production is more power play heavy than on his standard line.

Keep the top 2 Jets from flying, you’ll keep their offense on the ground.

Special Forces Since Thanksgiving, the Winnipeg special teams play has been bad. Now, I said this about the Devil’s power play last game – and then Utah gave the Devils 5 PPs to tempt fate – but the Winnipeg power play has just 4 goals in their last 30 attempts. Their PK, meanwhile, has been just under 75%. While also not as bad as the Devils PK, this is still a unit that Utah needs to be able to take advantage of.

Crash and Burn While Hellebuyck is back, and appears as good as before, testing him with close in deflections and forcing lateral movement is as key as ever. If there’s even a moment of hesitation for his lateral movement with his knee rehab, Utah needs to capitalize.

In order to do this, Utah needs to do three things:
1) Take away Hellebuyck’s vision, and force him to make reaction saves.
2) Lateral movement and cross-ice passes will be important. If Hellebuyck needs to laterally reset often, it could expose any weakness in that knee.
3) Crash the net and force tips to prevent him from reacting even if he does get set,

With Daniil But getting the monkey off his back (and into the net), look for him to have a high-flying confidence in getting in front of the net for tips. Look for a Utah power play to continue to do their same old thing, but potentially more effective than normal because Dylan Guenther’s one timer from the slot is fast enough to catch a goaltender from being completely squared and set in his position.

Projected Lineups:
No details, no projections provided as of 3AM writing time. Instead, here is the last game line-up. I have hopes for substitutions though…:

TUSKS UP!