Beginning the season without their captain and top defender, the Winnipeg Jets fell behind big and almost mounted a huge comeback in their opener Thursday night against the Dallas Stars.

But they were unable to overcome a four-goal deficit, falling 5-4 to snap a run of seven straight season-opening wins.

The night began with the unveiling of the Central Division and President’s Trophy banners from last season, plus the introduction of the 2025-26 team.

The crowd cheered hard for every player but nobody got a bigger reaction than Jonathan Toews. As the Winnipegger emerged from the tunnel, the building roared and gave him an ovation that lasted nearly a minute.

The good opening night vibes were soured when Dallas opened the scoring just 3:15 into the game.

Sam Steel held the puck along the wall in the Winnipeg end and wasn’t pressured, giving him time to wait until Roope Hintz opened up on the opposite side of the zone. Hintz’ shot was denied but Mikko Rantanen, who terrorized the Jets in last year’s postseason, knocked the rebound into an empty net to draw first blood.

Winnipeg’s top line evened the score just over three minutes later. Gabriel Vilardi carried the puck into the Dallas end and patiently waited for his linemates to get into a more dangerous position.

He passed the puck down low to Mark Scheifele, who fed Kyle Connor with a cross-ice pass near the side of the crease. Connor initially lost control of the puck but was able to regain control and put it past an out-of-position Jake Oettinger.

Before the period was through, the Stars took the lead back, not long after killing off the first penalty of the game. Rantanen took the puck along the wall in the Winnipeg end, warding off the checking of Cole Koepke. Nobody spotted Nils Lundkvist drifting into the slot, and he took a pass from Rantanen before wiring a shot past Connor Hellebuyck.

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Dallas took the 2-1 lead into the second as well as a 9-7 edge in shots on goal.

Neither team scored in the middle frame, with Dallas outshooting Winnipeg 17-7 in the second, though both sides had ample special teams opportunities. Winnipeg whiffed on a pair of power play chances while Dallas had a 5-on-4 and a 4-on-3 go by the wayside before getting an extended 5-on-3 late in the period.

They did not score before the second period horn, but still had 56 seconds to try and score with the two-man advantage in the third. While they couldn’t score with two men in the box, they managed to capitalize before the second penalty expired, thanks in part to a penalty killer losing his stick.

The puck found its way to Jason Robertson in front and while he was denied on his first shot, he banged home the rebound to make it 3-1 only 61 seconds into the third.

Dallas inflicted more pain upon Jets fans just 34 seconds later when Matt Duchene made a nice play to create time for himself in the Winnipeg end before sliding the puck to a wide-open Tyler Seguin, who guided it into a yawning cage to make it 4-1 Stars.

The Stars kept pouring it on as Wyatt Johnston got in on the fun at the 3:23 mark, spinning and firing a shot from the slot that eluded a partially-screened Hellebuyck to make it 5-1.

Morgan Barron finally gave the home fans something to cheer about when he got loose on a shorthanded breakaway and made a nice move to beat Oettinger with 10:07 left in the third.

With the Jets still on that same penalty kill, Connor tracked down a bank pass from Scheifele and whipped a shot from the wing that was stopped by Oettinger but Connor put the rebound in to make it 5-3 with 8:51 to go, injecting some real energy into the building.

Winnipeg rode that energy as they tried to continue their comeback and with 3:03 left, Connor took a pass from Scheifele at the Dallas blueline, skated into the slot and wired a shot past Oettinger to make it 5-4 as hats flooded the ice.

The Jets caught a break when the Stars were called for putting the puck out of play from their own end, even though on replay it appeared that the puck last touched the stick of Vladislav Namestnikov.

But Winnipeg couldn’t score on the man advantage and failed to equalize before the final horn sounded.

Hellebuyck was saddled with the loss, making 32 saves in defeat while Connor extended his NHL record by scoring in his 8th straight season opener.

The Jets will return to the ice Saturday when they host the L.A. Kings at 12:30 p.m. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins at 10 a.m.