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Canadiens @ Jets: Habs Fall Short | RECAP

Montreal Canadiens vs Winnipeg Jets, Game Recap: Habs Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game Interviews, NHL Three-Stars

FINAL/OT | Game 29, Away Game 18 | Wednesday March 17, 2021
Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg, MB

CANADIENS

Montreal

3-4

JETS

Winnipeg

(Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images)

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines

Jonathan Drouin – Nick Suzuki – Josh Anderson

Tyler Toffoli – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Brendan Gallagher

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Joel Armia

Paul Byron – Jake Evans – Corey Perry

Defence pairings

Joel Edmundson – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Xavier Ouellet

Goaltenders

 Carey Price – Jake Allen

Scratches

Artturi Lehkonen, Victor Mete

Taxi Squad

Hayden Verbeek, Laurent Dauphin, Michael Frolik, Charlie Lindgren

Injuries

Ben Chiarot (hand)

Game Report

Post-game, Joel Edmundson reflected on the Canadiens poor start saying that the Canadiens can’t get scored on during the first shift of the game. With the Habs unable to clear the zone — Derek Forbort knocked Jonathan Drouin off the puck — Blake Wheeler opened the scoring just 50 seconds from the opening puck drop.

It’s incumbent on the coaching staff to have their team ready to play. So why do the Canadiens have so many poor starts?

Giveaways were rampant as Drouin, Brendan Gallagher, Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Joel Edmundson and Brett Kulak led the way. And the Jets, stocked with skilled forwards don’t need many opportunities to finish.

For the first thirty-five minutes, the Canadiens had difficulty moving the puck up ice. Three failed zone exits by Montreal led to the Jets first three goals.

It was a very tough night for the defence pairing of Xavier Ouellet and Alexander Romanov. Ouellet played just over 11 minutes looking completely overwhelmed. That put an additional load on the top four, with Weber leading the way in icetime at 25:11.

Petry was beat to a loose puck by Kyle Connor for the Jets third goal. And Petry was the unnamed player that Dom Ducharme tagged with the mistake in overtime that led to the game-winner by Nikolaj Ehlers.

That said it’s fair to question the interim coach’s decision to deploy Phillip Danault, Paul Byron and Petry — a grouping that might be more likely to kill a penalty — starting in overtime versus three skilled forwards in Pierre-Luc Dubois, Connor and Ehlers. Of note, Jets coach Paul Maurice has coached over 1600 regular season games in the NHL.

Up Next

It was the second time this season that this particular Jets trio has beat the Canadiens in overtime. Dubois, Connor and Ehlers combined for seven points on the night. Montreal is now 0-8 beyond regulation time.

The Canadiens completed their six-game road trip with two wins and six points. They now play the next 13 of 16 games at home starting with Vancouver on Friday night.

Plus

▲ Carey Price, Corey Perry

Minus

▼ Xavier Ouellet, Alexander Romanov, Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki, Joel Armia 

Game Preview

Check out the game preview here: Canadiens @ Jets: Price to Start

The Numbers

Game Statistics
CANADIENS   JETS
36 Shots 30
46 Face-off % 54
0-for-2 Power Play 0-for-2
4 Penalty Minutes 4
23 Hits 33
62 Corsi For 39
Scoring Summary
FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
Canadiens (13-8-8) 0 1 2 0 3
Jets (18-9-2) 2 1 0 1 4
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Danault (2), Gallagher (11), Toffoli (18)
  • WPG: Wheeler (8), Connor (15), Connor (16), Ehlers (15)
  • MTL: Price (W) 9-5-5
  • WPG: Hellebuyck (L) 13-8-2

Stars of the Game

Official NHL Three Stars
  1. Kyle Connor MTL
  2. Brendan Gallagher  WPG
  3. Derek Forbort  MTL

Watch

Video Highlights

What Did They Say?

Post-game Quotes

Dominique Ducharme

  • “We attacked at the right time (in overtime) and we had a good chance. I’d say we panicked a bit when we got the puck back. We should’ve controlled the puck. We were ready to change and their guys had been on the ice for about a minute. We just should’ve been more patient.”

Brendan Gallagher

  • “Six games on the road, you get six out of 12 points. Probably not what the ideal road trip is. Not a terrible road trip, if you look at it as a whole. We’ve got to start finding ways to win these little mini-series. We have to put some wins together, string them together. I think we’re still building and growing as a group, but at some point we need to string some wins together.”

Joel Edmundson

  • “I think we were just turning too many pucks over at the start of the game in our own zone. That’s the type of game they like to play. They like to force turnovers and they capitalized. But as the game went on, we kind of found our game and we pressured them all over the ice.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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