Jets handing out free pizzas again

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This article was published 16/03/2021 (1635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not that the Winnipeg Jets played a poor game Monday night. But a few glaring errors in their own end — yes, that old nemesis again — proved to be fatal in a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

Take the game-winning goal, scored with 47 seconds left in the second period, as the proverbial smoking gun. A freeze-frame making the rounds of social media shows poor Connor Hellebuyck standing in his crease, surrounding by three Habs and not a single teammate in sight. Tyler Toffoli, Montreal’s leading goal scorer, was one of them. The others were linemates Nick Suzuki and Brendan Gallagher, who would ultimately be decoys as Toffoli went in and scored.

Just seconds earlier, the Jets were pressing for the equalizer after cutting a 2-0 deficit in half. They had the puck in Montreal’s zone, but a pass back to Josh Morrissey bounced over his stick. And then all heck broke loose. Neal Pionk hustled back to retrieve it, with the trio of opponents in hot pursuit. Rather than make a safe play into the corner, he tried to go up the middle. And put the pass right on to Toffoli’s stick, then removed himself from the play by wiping out.

“S–t happens. Excuse my language. That’s just the way it is,” is how Nikolaj Ehlers summed up the strange sequence of events.

Problem is, it happened more than once in this game. Andrew Copp coughed up a puck in the opening period at his own blue-line that turned into a Jesperi Kotkaniemi goal to make it 1-0 just 4:01 into the game. And Josh Morrissey was the guilty party on Josh Anderson’s power play tally at 5:33 of the second period.

“The three that are in our net, we’ve got them on our stick,” said coach Paul Maurice, who gave credit to the Canadiens for an aggressive forecheck. “They’re quick and they’ve got good sticks. They don’t pressure with a whole lot of physicality; they pressure with some quickness and they knock an awful lot of pucks down. I thought part of that is hand skills, kind of players they have. But we would think we got to do more with the pucks we had on our sticks that ended up in our net.”

Only Toffoli’s empty-netter with just under a minute left in the game, his 17th goal of the season, didn’t come off a turnover. Winnipeg falls to 17-9-2, losing in regulation for just the second time in seven games. Montreal snaps a two-game skid and improves to 13-8-7.

The Jets were back home for a brief stop following a five-game road trip that ended with their most impressive 60-minute effort, a 5-2 smothering of Toronto last Saturday night that at least briefly tempered the hue and cry that this team stills lacks the defensive awareness to be considered a serious contender.

Monday’s game is sure to reignite the debate, even if the Jets still won the analytics battle and held Montreal to a respectable 10 high-danger chances while producing 12 of their own.

However, it should be noted the Canadiens hit the post or crossbar three times, and Brendan Gallagher was stopped by Connor Hellebuyck.

Carey Price, appearing in his 700th career game, made 34 saves. The only two pucks to get by him were rockets off the stick of Jets winger Kyle Connor, both on the power play, to bring Winnipeg back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits. Connor is now up to 14 goals, tied with Ehlers for the team lead.

Price made sure they could never get any closer.

“When he gets feeling good it’s like nothing is going by him. So it’s nice having him back there. He’s a leader on our team and kind of sets the tone and he makes some big saves and he’s making good plays stopping pucks behind the net and making some good passes to us so we can get the breakouts done easy. He kind of boosts the morale for the whole team. When you see him come to play like that it makes you want to elevate your game,” Montreal defenceman Brett Kulak said of Price.

There was a noticeable increase in the physicality, which is likely due to the fact Winnipeg and Montreal were playing for the fifth time in 19 days. The Jets won the first three, the Habs the last two.

“Later in the year every team is going to be harder to play against. These guys, the most that stands out is their speed. But I though we did a good job and limiting their chances off the rush and things like that,” said Anderson.

Logan Stanley threw the biggest hit, blasting Montreal’s Jake Evans into the glass and drawing blood. There was no penalty on the play. Ehlers also had a running feud with Montreal rookie defenceman Alex Romanov. Pierre-Luc Dubois was engaged all night with various Habs. Mason Appleton had a UFC-style takedown of Gallagher during a post-whistle scrum.

“You play the same team that many times in a short span, the physicality it gets harder and harder and more and more physical. And that’s the way it should be,” said Ehlers. “Every team in the division right now is fighting for a playoff spot. You want to get into that playoff-style of hockey as quick as possible so you’re ready for that once you’re in.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg