TORONTO -- The Winnipeg Jets haven't forgotten.
On Oct. 28, the Jets brought their season-opening eight-game winning streak into their home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Canada Life Centre.
Leave it to the visitors to spoil the party.
Thanks to a hat trick from Maple Leafs forward John Tavares, the Jets were defeated for the first time in 2024-25, a 6-4 loss that was Winnipeg's lone blip on their record during a memorable 15-1-0 start.
Two months later, the Jets will seek retribution at Scotiabank Arena on Monday (2 p.m. ET; TSN3, TSN4), attempting to break an 0-5-1 slide against the Maple Leafs.
"When they were here earlier this year, we obviously didn't play our game," forward Mark Scheifele said before the Jets flew to Toronto on Sunday. "They played well. They've been playing really good hockey. They have a great squad over there and they've been playing really good as of late.
"We just have to be at our best. We have to stick to our game. We obviously weren't happy with the one that we played earlier this season when they beat us in our building. We just have to stick to our structure, stick to our game plan, and worry about ourselves."
Interestingly, the Jets have not defeated the Maple Leafs since a 6-3 victory in Winnipeg on Dec. 5, 2021, when Scheifele made the now-famous comment "Is there anything better than beating the Leafs?" inside a jubilant dressing room.
"Being a kid from close to Toronto, obviously you want to beat the team that you grew up that close to," said Scheifele, a native of Kitchener, Ontario. "If they're still talking about it, it's probably a bigger deal than it is, but it's always fun. Like I said before, it's always fun to go to Toronto. I have so many friends and family that, first of all, are Leafs fans, and they get to come to the game. It's that close.
"Obviously I'm always excited to play those games."
The Maple Leafs (21-11-2) split back-to-back games over the weekend, defeating the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 on Friday and losing to the New York Islanders by the same score Saturday. The Jets defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-0 thanks in part to goalie Connor Hellebuyck's fourth shutout of the season.
"(In general) they've been playing great," Scheifele said. "I watched a bit of the Toronto-Buffalo game. They're playing great, they're playing solid, they're playing good D, they're making it tough for teams to get inside. They have scoring from pretty much everyone, which makes them pretty deadly.
"Obviously a tough test. They've been hot as of late, so we've got to be ready for a tough test."
The Jets (24-10-1) have been led by their top line of Scheifele (38), Kyle Connor (43) and Gabriel Vilardi (28) and their combined 109 points.
"We had a little bit of a slow start in terms of 5-on-5," Scheifele said. "And then things got better, and we started to find more chemistry. Then Gabe started taking face-offs for a while and it threw us off for a little bit. Just different ways of coming into the zones or entering the zones.
"But we've been finding our stride. It's still one of those things where you need to continue to grow and continue to find new ways to score and take advantage of other teams. That's what we're trying to do."
