Jets climb back into playoff picture with 3-2 win over Canadiens

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This article was published 06/01/2020 (2070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — Forget easing him back into the lineup. The Winnipeg Jets were desperate for Andrew Copp’s return from injury — and the versatile winger showed exactly why Monday night in Montreal.

Copp’s third-period breakaway goal on Carey Price proved the game-winner as the Jets skated away with a much-needed 3-2 victory over the Canadiens at Bell Centre.

“Changes so many things for us. Obviously the penalty kill is much improved with him there. The line of (Adam) Lowry and Copp and (Mathieu) Perreault changed the way we looked. It also changed how our lines come off the bench, so Blake Wheeler’s line is out against a different set of players and a different set of D. He had a huge impact,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice.

Winnipeg improves to 23-16-4 and jumps back into a Western Conference wild-card spot, less than 24 hours after falling out of it. Montreal drops to 18-18-7 and is winless in the six games they’ve played since a 6-2 victory over the Jets on Dec. 23 at Bell MTS Place.

Copp missed eight games with an upper-body injury, and it’s likely no coincidence the Jets only won two of them. But his return paid off instantly.

“It was good. It didn’t feel like I missed a beat. It felt like I did all of the proper things in terms of recovery that I was able to move the time line up. It felt like I didn’t miss a step out there,” said Copp.

After a tepid, scoreless opening period, the Jets turned it on to start the middle frame. Defenceman Josh Morrissey’s seeing-eye shot from the point went through a maze of traffic — and Price — just 1:32 into the frame. Morrissey has four goals on the season to lead Winnipeg defencemen in that department. Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler had the assists.

Perreault was called for hooking just over a minute later, and you’d be forgiven if you thought it was only a matter of time before the game was tied. After all, Winnipeg’s penalty kill has been a disaster lately.

But near the end of the two-minute minor, Ehlers made a clever stick check that sent him and Wheeler on a short-handed two-on-none. Ehlers took the return feed and scored his 17th of the season at 4:46.

“He claims he had 13 (short-handed goals) one year in junior,” Wheeler said after the game. “Great play by him to strip the puck. And then when I saw we were off to the races, I was just trying to suck Price over and give him a little room to put it up.”

It’s true Ehlers typically doesn’t see short-handed time, but Maurice has started using him lately near the end of an expiring penalty, no doubt hoping to use his speed to catch tired opponents off guard.

“I sit in the (penalty killing) meeting every single time and I know where I need to go. And it worked out pretty good,” said Ehlers.

A desperate Montreal team, in danger of falling out of the Eastern Conference playoff race, responded in kind, applying all kinds of pressure as the period wore on.

They were rewarded at 11:03 when Ehlers failed to clear the zone, lost the puck and former Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot unleashed a cannon from the point that evaded goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.

Winnipeg had a couple of glorious chances to extend their lead before intermission, but Price had the hometown faithful chanting his name after big saves on Kyle Connor and a partial breakaway by Copp.

Copp, however, didn’t miss on his second breakaway chance at 10:16 of the third period, the puck just squeaking through the pads of Price after what looked to be another save. Instead, it was his sixth goal of the season.

“I was trying to skate away from those (Montreal) guys. They were on me right away. I wanted to make sure that I put something hard on the net because you knew he was backing in just based on my speed. I was lucky enough for it to trickle in. I didn’t want to put it in the hands of the ref to give me a penalty shot or not,” said Copp.

Chiarot scored his second of the game at 11:47. Ilya Kovalchuk, playing his first game with Montreal after signing a free-agent deal, drew an assist on the play. Chiarot, who signed a free agent deal in the summer and is playing on the top pairing with Shea Weber, is up to seven goals on the season.

“He definitely did something, because he definitely didn’t score on me in practice last year. It was a pretty good shot, I’ll give him that,” Hellebuyck cracked of being beaten twice by his former teammate.

Hellebuyck finished with 29 saves, including a handful on a late Montreal power play in which Price was pulled. Copp once again played a vital role in surviving that late surge.

“Copper’s one of those guys that works extremely hard at this. You never question if he’s prepared for a game. If there’s going to be a guy that’s going to come back to our lineup ready to contribute, it’d be a guy like Copper,” said Wheeler.

Overall, it was a solid bounce-back effort by the Jets, who opened their four-game road trip on Saturday afternoon in St. Paul with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild.

“Both teams played a pretty good game, pretty exciting right to the end. We stuck with it, battled hard and our PK was great. So hats off to the guys in front of me,” said Hellebuyck, who is among the league leaders with 19 wins this season.

“Any win feels good. We’re going to build on this momentum, and we’re going to carry it into the rest of the road trip.”

The journey continues Wednesday night in Toronto and winds up Thursday in Boston.

“You’re feeling good after a win in Montreal. We’ve got two really good teams that are feeling good about themselves right now the next two. So if we can bring some momentum and apply that to these next two games, I think that can be huge for us,” said Copp.

 

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg