A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Habs Shootout Win Over Jets

By Tyler Major-Mcnicol

MONTREAL, CANADA - OCTOBER 17: Jake Allen #34 of the Montreal Canadiens skates during warmups prior to the game against the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre on October 17, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Minnesota Wild defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, CANADA - OCTOBER 17: Jake Allen #34 of the Montreal Canadiens skates during warmups prior to the game against the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre on October 17, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Minnesota Wild defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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Oct 28, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 28, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports /

Second Period Thoughts

With a tie heading into the second frame, it should be expected that both teams would battle to steal the momentum early on. The Canadiens started the Alex Newhook, Juraj Slafkovsky and Josh Anderson line, with Newhook winning the faceoff. Unfortunately, they lost control of the puck and it ended up in the back of their net, on a tally by Lowry.

15 seconds into the second period and the Habs are down a goal, in a game where they have been heavily outshot. The Jets attacked again, and Slafkovsky turned the puck over to Mason Appleton who fed a pass to Nino Niederreiter. He made no mistake slipping a shot past Allen.

Caufield put two shots towards the net and looked to have a little more jump in his stride. He was flying and made a couple of rushes where it looked like the defender wasn’t even there. Although Caufield was unable to capitalize, his shift gave the lineup some energy and they seemed faster than they were in the first period.

With five minutes gone in the second, the Canadiens increased their shot output to 11. While the number isn’t significant, especially when compared with Winnipeg’s 22 shots, the majority of the shots were of the high-danger variety. Slafkovsky, Anderson and Newhook’s speed was noticeable, and the Jets definitely had all they could handle with that line on the ice.

The crowd had nearly reached their boiling point, down 3-1, and a couple of missed calls later, they were awarded with a Habs powerplay. Lowry went to the box for tripping, and the Canadiens had a great chance to pull within one goal. Sean Monahan made Brossoit guess, and he guessed wrong, sliding one way, and he just tucked it in with a nice backhand. Assists went to captain Nick Suzuki, and his assistant captain Mike Matheson.

Allen handled the onslaught by the Jets quite well, and while he wasn’t involved in the powerplay tally, he has held the Jets at three goals. With 10 minutes to go, and down by one goal, the Canadiens put on their work boots and supported one another, on the back of Allen’s inspiring play. The Habs’ fifth powerplay goal of the season has shown a lot of the team’s fighter’s mentality and drive to keep improving.

Approaching five minutes to play, the Habs had 17 shots, but couldn’t get anything past Brossoit. They weren’t playing poorly, but the bounces just weren’t in their favour. Caufield almost had a clear one-timer shot on a tee from Brendan Gallagher, but it got blocked.

The final two minutes came, and the teams both kept pushing hard. Anderson had a couple of rush opportunities showing off his speed, but his shots didn’t translate to any rebound. Allen let out a rebound, and it eventually came back to Barron who fired it over the glass trying to dump it out of the zone. With seven seconds left, Montreal went to the box, fortunately, Harvey-Pinard was able to clear the puck down the ice and hold the Jets to just a single-goal lead.

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