Habs spoil ‘spectacular spectacle’
CANADIENS 2
Winnipeg put on great event with Heritage Classic, Jets can’t hold up their end of the bargain
Winnipeg Jets walk out to the ice for the NHL Heritage Classic game against the Montreal Canadiens at Princess Auto Stadium on Sunday. (PHOTOS BY FRED GREENSLADE / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
CANADIENS 2
JETS 1
THE Winnipeg Jets know how to throw a great outdoor party. Unfortunately for the club, they haven’t perfected the all-important hockey portion of the Heritage Classic.
A 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night inside Princess Auto Stadium comes 10 years after a 3-0 downer against the Edmonton Oilers inside the same football facility.
Better luck in 2036, perhaps?
Hey, at least the Jets finally found a way to score a goal in this one as Isak Rosen broke Jacob Fowler’s shutout bid with just under five minutes left in regulation. But they were ultimately unable to finish off a memorable weekend with a much-needed win in front of a raucous, sold-out crowd of 32,343.
“It was a spectacular spectacle,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry.
“It takes you back to youth hockey, it takes you back to growing up when you fell in love with the game. Obviously a disappointing result, but I thought the NHL and Winnipeg fans did a great job making it another great event.”
The Jets have now dropped five straight games (0-3-2) and have fallen to 4-4-3 overall.
“They’ve been tight one goal games. It’s about finding a way to be on the right side of those,” said Lowry, who pointed to the way the team pushed hard in the third period as the style they need to emulate for the full 60 minutes.
“When we got direct, the game really started to tilt in our favour.”
Too little, too late, it turned out.
Montreal, which always seem to give Winnipeg fits with its speed, improves to 6-3-2 on the year.
The weather conditions couldn’t have been better, with a temperature of 3 C and light winds at puck drop.
The Jets will now enjoy a day away from the rink before hosting the Florida Panthers on Tuesday at Canada Life Centre.
“I’m really glad Monday’s coming and we can just start fresh,” said head coach Scott Arniel, pointing to a chaotic few days including Friday’s Connor Hellebuyck trade, the team’s charity gala that night, Fan Fest and the alumni game on Saturday and all the related celebrations and distractions.
“There’s been a lot on our guys. Now I just want to go forward. I just want to worry about the rest of the season. Now we can. This was a fantastic weekend, but now I just want to go. Let’s get back to normal hockey.”
Chasing the game
The Jets have been playing plenty of catch-up so far this season. And that’s a big problem for a team that is having trouble putting the puck in the net.
Winnipeg has now surrendered the opening goal in seven of the past nine games.
Lane Hutson was the latest to victimize them, converting a beautiful feed from Noah Dobson at 7:19 of the second period to stake the visitors to the 1-0 lead.
You could see this one coming from a mile away. Winnipeg’s second line got caught on an extended shift in their own zone and, with the long change, couldn’t recover as the Canadiens got their big weapons on the ice and made them pay.
The hole got even bigger a few minutes later as another offensive defenceman, Kaiden Guhle, threaded a perfect shot through traffic that eluded a screened Stuart Skinner.
The lone goal
Rosen’s first goal of the year — and the seventh of his young career — was certainly a memorable one.
It came after a terrific play by defencman Haydn Fleury to keep the puck in the Montreal zone and then a crispy pass from Gabe Vilardi which Rosen one-timed past Fowler.
Canadiens goaltender Jacob Fowler makes a save on Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi.
“It’s nice to see him get rewarded,” said Lowry.
“He does a lot of things away from the scoring areas that don’t necessarily show up on the scoresheet. For a guy that you look at as an offensive guy he’s done a real good job with his defensive reads, playing away from the puck. But what he’s going to be known for is his offensive chops, and you saw that.”
Hurry back, Josh
The line between success and failure is razor thin these days for the Jets, and that’s where the absence of Josh Morrissey looms large.
The club’s top defenceman missed his seventh straight game with a wrist injury. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Jets went 0-for-4 on the power play in a game where one tally could have been the difference.
“It’s hard to replace that by committee,” said Lowry.
“The guys have done a good job back there filling in, but you lose an elite superstar in the league, a guy who controls the puck, feeds transition into offence … He’s so good on the power play, he’s so good in these tight games, you see him start to activate. He’s almost like Lane Hutson in that he becomes that fourth forward.
“It really gives teams fits in the defensive zone. It’s a huge loss not having him, but we can’t make excuses.”
There’s hope Morrissey could be ready in the next 7-10 days, but Winnipeg’s schedule doesn’t exactly lighten up between now and then.
And, as Lowry noted, plenty of teams are dealing with injuries. Montreal, for example, is without captain Nick Suzuki and scoring winger Ivan Demidov.
“We’ve got to find a way to kind of pick up the weight until he gets back and start getting some wins here,” said Lowry.
Key play
Hutson’s goal put the Jets behind the eight-ball and really grabbed momentum for Montreal.
Three stars: 1. MTL G Jacob Fowler: 33 saves 2. MTL D Kaiden Guhle: Game-winning goal 3. WPG RW Isak Rosen: Goal
Blast from the past
With the current players not giving the crowd a ton to cheer about, some of the loudest roars were reserved from the 2.0 alumni members.
Topping them all was Dustin Byfuglien who, along with former captains Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler, performed the ceremonial puck drop. Then, during the second intermission, the entire alumni team was honoured in a brief ceremony emceed by Ron MacLean. Once again, Big Buff was the clear favourite.
Tim Hortons might want to sign him up for an endorsement deal. Not only was Byfuglien holding a cup of coffee in his hand during the appearance, he also was the subject of a viral video earlier in the day when he surprised customers by dishing out double doubles from the Tim Hortons trailer that set up during the pregame party outside the stadium.
Extra! Extra!
Both teams arrived to the stadium in style. Winnipeg players were straight out of Top Gun, dressed as fighter pilots, while Montreal paid tribute to owner Geoff Molson by dressing up as brewery workers.
The Jets were on their best behaviour, not taking a single penalty in the game.
Forward Brad Lambert, defenceman Tyrel Bauer and goaltender Nico Daws were the three healthy scratches, while Morrissey and Vlad Namestnikov (lower body, week-to-week) remain on injured reserve.
Defenceman Elias Salomonsson made his season debut following off-season shoulder surgery. He played 17:39, trailing only Neal Pionk and Dylan Samberg in that category.