TORONTO – Captain Auston Matthews registered his 14th profession hat trick, together with the game-winner, to guide the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 6-5 comeback win in opposition to the struggling Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
Jets netminder Eric Comrie couldn’t freeze a free puck along side his aim. It slid to a wide-open Matthews in entrance with 4:22 remaining for the Maple Leafs’ (19-15-6) fifth win in six outings.
Winnipeg (15-20-6) squandered a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes for its eighth loss in a row. Mark Scheifele scored two objectives and arrange one other to guide the Jets.
Associated Movies
After Scheifele put his workforce forward 5-4 with a power-play snipe, Troy Stecher’s slapper and Matthews’s third put Toronto forward for good. Matthews pulled to inside one aim of tying Mats Sundin’s franchise file of 420 objectives.
Get each day Nationwide information
Get the day’s prime information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
The Jets outshot the homeside 39-30 earlier than 18,860 at Scotiabank Area. Toronto backup Dennis Hildeby picked up the win, relieving Joseph Woll early within the second interval after he allowed 4 objectives on 18 pictures.
The Maple Leafs had been with out William Nylander (decrease physique) for the third straight recreation. Dakota Joshua (kidney) and Chris Tanev (decrease physique) had been additionally absent.
Takeaways
Leafs: Along with his second aim, Matthews set a franchise file for objectives at house with 232, passing Darryl Sittler’s 44-year-old mark. Matthews has three objectives and 6 factors in his final three video games.
Jets: Have gained simply thrice since Nov. 18, having gone 3-13-4 of their final 20 video games.
Key second
Matthews scored on the ability play with two seconds remaining within the second interval to tug the Maple Leafs to inside 4-3.
Key stat
When the Jets defeated the Maple Leafs in Toronto 374 days in the past, Winnipeg was first general, and the Maple Leafs had been atop the Atlantic Division. The 2 groups entered their match on Thursday with the Jets final general and Toronto solely 10 spots higher at twenty second.
Up subsequent
Jets: Go to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
Leafs: Go to the New York Islanders on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 1, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
