(SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of struggling teams will meet Sunday in Winnipeg, as the sliding Jets host the winless New Jersey Devils in a clash at MTS Centre.
The Devils are 0-2-3 through five games, marking the first time the franchise has gone winless this far into a season since the Colorado Rockies were 0-4 with a tie through five games in 1981-82. The only worse start in club history came in 1974-75 when the expansion Kansas City Scouts were 0-8 with a tie through nine games.
New Jersey held a 2-1 lead late in the second period of its most recent outing, Friday's 3-2 regulation loss in Calgary. The Devils allowed the Flames to knot the score at 2-2 with 19 seconds remaining in the second period and rookie Sean Monahan notched the game-winning goal for Calgary with 2:43 left in the third.
Adam Henrique and Dainius Zubrus each scored once, while Martin Brodeur allowed all three goals on 29 shots for the Devils.
"We've got guys in the room there, veteran guys that know how to win games and we have to execute and win games," said Devils coach Peter DeBoer. "That's the bottom line. We are not getting it done."
Cory Schneider will make his third start of the season on Sunday. He is 0-1-1 with a 2.94 goals against average in two outings this season, while Brodeur is 0-1-2 with a 3.19 GAA.
The Devils have played four of their five games this season on the road. On Sunday, they are making the fourth stop on five-game trip, a swing that is set to end Thursday in Ottawa.
While New Jersey aims once again for its first win of 2013-14, the Jets will try to get back on track. After beginning the campaign with consecutive victories, Winnipeg has dropped three straight games in regulation, including Friday's 4-1 setback at the hands of visiting Dallas.
Blake Wheeler scored the lone goal for Winnipeg on Friday, while Ondrej Pavelec made 27 saves in defeat.
"I thought we made some mistakes in the first period and with those kinds of mistakes, we can't expect that our goaltending's going to save us like it has in the previous games but I thought that the mistakes we made were correctable," Winnipeg head coach Claude Noel said.
The Jets, who are playing the second test of a six-game homestand on Sunday, took two of three from the Devils during the lockout-shortened season of 2013.
However, New Jersey has taken seven of 10 overall against the franchise previously known as the Atlanta Thrashers and has won eight of the past 11 road meetings in this series.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.