Coincidence or not, the Montreal Canadiens delivered their most complete performance in some time on Wednesday, beating the visiting Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in a shootout on the same night they honoured Andrei Markov. Whether the ex-Habs defenseman inspired the home side or not, they’ll take it based on their two straight losses heading in, as Cole Caufield scored the lone shootout goal while goalie Jakub Dobes made 29 saves to secure the hard-fought victory.
Game Recap
It wasn’t a perfect game by any stretch, to be clear. The Jets, who had been struggling themselves, to the point of holding a closed-door meeting a few days ago after a loss to the Buffalo Sabres, maintained possession for extended periods of time in the offensive zone on several occasions. At no time was that more evident than on the Jets’ second goal, when the newly reformed top Canadiens line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, the latter having lost his stick no less, found themselves on the ice for over two minutes.
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Slafkovsky’s lost stick figured into the action too. Mark Scheifele’s pass hit the stick en route to Gabriel Vilardi behind the net. Vilardi promptly found an open Kyle Connor who beat Dobes to make the score 2-1. To the Canadiens’ credit, it was a rare defensive miscue likely exacerbated by their fatigue and inability to get fresh bodies on the ice.
That having been said, on the Jets’ first goal, to open the scoring, Connor outworked defenseman Noah Dobson on his way to the net late in the first. Dobson’s partner, Mike Matheson, compensated to take Connor out of scoring position. However, Connor did find a streaking Scheifele in the slot, as Dobson failed to recover in time. Scheifele, who faced a chorus of boos whenever he touched the puck, as had become tradition in Montreal since the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, made no mistake burying it from close range.
Slafkovsky answered on the power play midway through the second, set up beautifully by Suzuki and a one-touch pass from Caufield on the power play. After Connor scored his go-ahead goal a few minutes later, Oliver Kapanen tied it up off a just-as-beautiful pass from Ivan Demidov, who tied rookie-scoring-leader Beckette Sennecke of the Anaheim Ducks with his 20th point of the campaign with the assist.
Overall, despite the extended stays in their own zone, the Canadiens indisputably held a huge advantage in high-quality shots on net (and arguably overall play), as goalie Eric Comrie made 29 saves himself to keep the Jets in this one despite their 26 giveaways (compared to 15), many of which led to scoring chances.
It was a decent effort for both struggling teams, but a huge win for the Canadiens, who had been coming off a demoralizing and embarrassing loss to the Ottawa Senators just the night before. On that basis alone, playing their second game in two nights against a relatively rested opponent, the Habs should be happy with how they performed, especially with Markov in attendance. Now at 14-9-3, they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. With their first loss in the extra frame this season, the Jets dropped to 13-12-1. They host the Sabres on Friday, as they seek redemption for their previous loss to them earlier this week.
