December 2025 is going to go down as perhaps the worst month in Winnipeg Jets 2.0 history.
The nail in the coffin came Wednesday night when they fell to the Red Wings 2-1 in Detroit for their seventh straight loss.
With the defeat, the Jets finish the month with a terrible 2-7-4 record, their fewest wins in a full calendar month of action since relocating from Atlanta.
The game got off to a fairly uneventful start before Josh Morrissey, playing in his 700th NHL game, was called for roughing just over seven minutes in, catching Detroit captain Dylan Larkin in the face.
It was Larkin who made the Jets pay on the power play when he ripped a wrist shot high over the left shoulder of a screened Connor Hellebuyck.
Things went from bad to worse for Winnipeg when Detroit doubled their lead thanks to a comedy of errors from the Jets.
The play began when Dylan DeMelo fanned on a dump-in at the centre red line, springing Detroit on a 3-on-1. J.T. Compher carried the puck deep into Winnipeg territory before sending a pass across to Mason Appleton. He was almost below the goal line when he sent a shot on goal that squeezed through Hellebuyck, banked off a sliding Luke Schenn and into the net for his first goal against his former team.
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The goal made it 2-0, the seventh time in the last 11 games that the Jets had fallen behind by two or more goals.
Detroit nearly made it 3-0 moments later when another former Jet, Andrew Copp, got free for a short breakaway but Hellebuyck turned aside his chance with the blocker.
The Wings carried the 2-0 lead into the second after outshooting Winnipeg 10-5 in the first.
Detroit got another power play just over a minute into the second but the Jets got the kill and shortly thereafter picked up their first power play of the night.
But it was Detroit who had the best chance on Winnipeg’s power play, with Gustav Nyquist disrupting a pass that would have resulted in a tap-in goal for Larkin.
Winnipeg wound up outshooting Detroit 11-6 in the second period but the Wings carried their 2-0 lead into the third.
The Jets finally broke through at the 7:04 mark of the third. Logan Stanley got the puck as he skated down the wall in the Detroit end and fired a shot along the ice that beat John Gibson five-hole for his seventh of the season, a shot Gibson should have stopped.
Jonathan Toews picked up an assist on the play for just his third point in his last 22 games.
Winnipeg had possession of the puck for the bulk of the period as they pushed hard for the equalizer, with their closest call coming with the goalie pulled when Nyquist hit the post during a net-front scramble.
But the clock ran out before Winnipeg could pull even, bringing their disastrous month to a merciful end.
Other than the Stanley goal, Gibson was solid in net for Detroit, turning aside 24 shots while Hellebuyck stopped 17.
Winnipeg will try to get 2026 started on a more positive note when they take on the Maple Leafs in Toronto at 6 p.m. New Year’s Day.
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