Montreal Canadiens Fall To Winnipeg Jets For Second Consecutive Loss

The Montreal Canadiens didn’t have much time to lick their wounds from a 3-2 defeat to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

They had to get back on the Bell Centre ice and face a tough Winnipeg Jets team last night.

It was a tough back to back matchup as the Maple Leafs and Jets are probably the two best teams in the entire Canadian Division. Also, the Habs were doing it without Brendan Gallagher, Ben Chiarot and Carey Price.

Things got off to a difficult start. Jets defender Josh Morrissey jumped into the rush on the very first shift of the game, took a pass from Mathieu Perreault, and fired a wrist shot past Jake Allen to give the Jets a lead on their first shot of the game.

It didn’t last long.

Just like Wednesday night’s game when Auston Matthews scored in the first minute and Corey Perry answered less than two minutes later, the Habs were able to match Morrissey’s snipe as well.

Jesperi Kotknaiemi, playing right wing on a line with Tomas Tatar and Phillip Danault in Gallagher’s absence, made a great pass from the corner to Tatar. The Habs winger was stopped but Danault picked up the rebound and tied the game just 1:40 into the contest.

For the rest of the period, the Habs both dominated the shot clock and appeared to be dominated in all other facets of the game. Though the shots were 18-9 for the Canadien after 20 minutes, the score was 3-1 Jets.

Goals from Trevor Lewis, overpowering Victor Mete and getting a stick on a loose puck to knock it past Allen, and Nik Ehlers firing a slap shot on the rush gave the Jets a two goal lead.

The second period was a little better for the Habs. They looked to be moving the puck better, were skating much better and created more actual chances rather than just getting low percentage shots from the outside. Most importantly, they limited the great scoring chances that the Jets created.

They also got a really lucky bounce.

Paul Byron scored to make it 3-2 when a puck that was dumped in hit the boards behind the Jets net and bounced out into the slot. Jets goaltender Conroy Hellebuyck was behind the net expecting the puck to land on his stick, but it found Byron’s in the slot and he slid it home to make it 3-2 Jets after 40.

Allen came up big early in the third period, stopping Andrew Copp on a clean breakaway and then robbing Nik Ehlers on a one-timer from in close. Allen made another terrific stop while killing a penalty with three minutes to play. He was hit in the mask with a shot that broke a strap on his helmet. Still, he was able to gather himself enough to punch the rebound aside and give the Canadiens a chance to tie the game after killing the penalty.

But, it wasn’t to be. The Canadiens had a few chances in tight in the final two minutes after pulling Allen for an extra attacker. However, the Jets would seal the deal with an empty net goal with 36 seconds to play.

It was the Canadiens second loss in as many nights. They now face the Jets again on Saturday before getting a rematch with the Maple Leafs on Monday.