The Montreal Canadiens were obliterated by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night and they landed in Winnipeg hoping for redemption, hoping to prove to their coach that their horrific performance in the last game was a bump in the road. As for their hosts, the Winnipeg Jets also wanted to bounce back from a loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
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It started well for Martin St-Louis’ men as they took control early, pushing to be first on the puck and applying plenty of pressure on the forecheck. Then, after a little under eight minutes, a long-awaited even took place. Rookie blueliner Lane Hutson finally scored his first career goal, his 20th point of the season.
For once, the goal came straight after an offensive zone faceoff as Nick Suzuki won the draw cleanly, sent the puck to Cole Caufield who passed it in turn to defenseman Mike Matheson who walked the blueline before passing it to Hutson who had been moving nearer the net and sent a quick shot passed one of the best goaltender in today’s game, Connor Hellebuyck.
It was quite funny to see Caufield and Matheson both rush towards the Winnipeg net to grab the rookie’s first goal puck, proof of how happy the team was to see him finally score.
Some seven minutes later, with Kirby Dach sat in the box for high sticking, the Jets tied up the score and showcased why they have the 2nd best power play in the league with some smooth passing. Kyle Connor sent a laser of a pass through the blue paint, finding Gabe Vilardi on the doorstep, on the other side. An easy tap in for his 13th on the season.
Then, a little over two minutes later, Nino Neiderreiter pretended to take the puck around the net but sent a perfect back pass to captain Dave Lowry who only had to tap it in as Montembeault was deported to the other side and looking there having bought the Swiss’ act. Hutson was right there by Lowry, but just couldn’t outpower him.
At the end of the first frame, Winnipeg led both in goals and shots (11-9), but it was a hotly contested battle and the Canadiens were definitely in the game.
Montreal did its best in the second frame, getting 10 shots on net to the Jets’ nine, but near simultaneous penalties not even five minutes in to Caufield and then Christian Dvorak certainly didn’t help. Still, there were only two seconds left to the two-man advantage when Connor managed to beat Montembeault, seconds after he frustrated him on the exact same play with a spectacular save.
Just like the…