The Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets battled it out in their first game of 2026 in Toronto. This was the first of two meetings between these teams, who have built a bit of a rivalry over the last few seasons. This game carried a lot of weight, as both teams are nowhere near where they want to be in the standings and are hungry to turn their seasons around in 2026.
Related: 3 Takeaways From Maple Leafs’ 4-0 Win Over Devils
With that, let’s get into what happened with a brief recap.
Game Recap
1st Period
The first period started with the Maple Leafs carrying a ton of pressure. Right from the jump, they had strong puck possession which led to Max Domi backhanding one off the crossbar. After that, though, the Jets stepped up their game and took over the period.
Gabriel Vilardi opened the scoring with his 17th of the season at 14:09. Shortly after, Dylan DeMelo picked up his second of the season to extend the Jets’ lead to 2-0, which they carried into the first intermission.
2nd Period
In the middle frame, the Maple Leafs were able to get back into the game with a goal from Auston Matthews just 1:34 into the period, his 16th of the season. After that, however, the Jets once again took control and extended their lead. Goals from Alex Iafallo (7) and Mark Scheifele, who scored his 19th of the season, pushed the Jets’ lead to 4-1. After that, the Maple Leafs made a goalie change and pulled Joseph Woll for Dennis Hildeby.
The Maple Leafs did not give up. They had a strong push in the back half of the period and managed to cut the lead down to one. Goals from Oliver Ekman-Larsson (7) and Matthews, who scored his second of the night with just three seconds left in the period, sent Toronto into the intermission with some momentum.
3rd Period
The third period was easily the Maple Leafs’ best. They controlled play for most of the frame and battled their way back to tie the game twice. Matias Maccelli sniped his sixth of the season to make it 4-4. Just minutes later, the Jets regained the lead with their fifth goal of the game, but five minutes after that, the Maple Leafs tied it again on a goal from Troy Stecher (2).
The intensity picked up significantly after Toronto tied it, and at 15:38 of the period, the roof blew off Scotiabank Arena when the Maple Leafs took the lead. It was a costly mistake by Eric Comrie, who attempted to play the puck, but Easton Cowan pushed it between his legs. The puck slid out to Matthews, who buried it into the open net for his third of the night and 18th of the season.
The Jets pulled their goalie with 1:38 remaining and had pressure for almost the entire stretch, but the Maple Leafs did a great job shutting the door. That included a massive save by Hildeby in the final moments to secure the win.
