On a night when the Hoosli Ukrainian Male Choir blew the roof off Canada Life Centre, the Winnipeg Jets emerged victorious after one of the wildest games ever played in the downtown building.
Ironically, a Russian, Evgeny Svechnikov scored the opening goal and assisted on the second as he got the Jets rolling. Winnipeg went on to blow a 4-0 lead and eventually put up eight as the home side rode Hoosli's energy to an 8-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
"We were on the wrong side of a comeback in Colorado," Svechnikov's lineman Pierre-Luc Dubois said post-game. "Tonight, to keep going and not panic too much feels really good. At this point of the year we’ll take the two points and be happy with it. We did a lot of good things. I think it’s a game we can use to build off.”
It was Winnipeg's second-straight win as the Jets improved to 24-21-9 on the season.
Hoosli's powerful rendition of the Ukrainian and Canadian national anthems before the game brought the house down as the citizens of Winnipeg, living in a province of more than 100,000 people of Ukrainian heritage, rose to their feet to support Ukraine as it fights valiantly to fend off an illegal Russian attack on their sovereign nation.
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But that brilliant pre-game performance by a Winnipeg treasure simply got the show started. On the ice, it was a wild night from start to finish.
"It was a beautiful job by them," Dubois said of the Hoosli chorus. "It was a special moment that I think everybody got to share together. I think everybody in the arena had goosebumps during both national anthems. It was a special moment."
It was a night when Blake Wheeler was playing his 800th game as a member of the franchise, Brenden Dillon was playing in the 700th game of his career and Nate Schmidt was playing the 500th game of his career. None of them will ever forget this one.
It was a game in which Svechnikov and Adam Lowry had stretched their goal-scoring streaks to three games each -- before the end of the first period. It was a game with 12 power plays, 38 minutes in penalties and a dozen goals. It was borderline wacko.
Not surprisingly, the Jets got off to their best start in months. Svechnikov tapped home a beautiful pass from Nate Schmidt to score his sixth of the season at 5:21 of the opening period. Kyle Connor also picked up an assist. Schmidt then scored just 36 seconds later at 5:57 as his shot from the blue line went past two players and through the legs of Habs netminder Samuel Montembeault. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Svechnikov drew the assists as the Jets got a little puck-luck for the fist time since mid-November.
Before the first period ended, there would be more fireworks. Adam Lowry scored his seventh of the year at 8:46 after converting a beautiful pass from Dylan DeMelo. then Mark Scheifele tallied his 19th of the season at 9:13 after Dubois and Connor combined on a couple of quick passes to open up Scheifele right in front of Montembeault. The Jets had four goals and their first six shots.
However, Montreal didn't back down. Josh Anderson scored his 13th of the season as Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck was fooled on a shot from an odd angle. Jeff Petry drew the assist and the Habs had cut the Jets lead to 4-1.
Montreal then made it 4-2 on the power play at the 17:00 minute mark as Anderson scored his second of the night and 14th of the year from Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. Suddenly, it was a game again.
Before the period ended, the Habs got even closer when Artturi Lehkonen was sent in alone and beat Hellebuyck between the wickets for his 10th of the season. Jake Evans drew the assist as the Canadiens went to the intermission trailing the Jets 4-3.
By the end of the period, there had been seven goals and seven penalties as referees Michael Markovic and Chris Schlenker had made a mockery of the sport. Montreal outshot Winnipeg 14-6 in the opening 20 minutes while Jets outhit Montreal 16-8.
The Canadiens eventually tied it at the 4:08 mark of the second period when Anderson went high on Hellebuyck, buried a wrister under the bar and recorded the first hat-trick of his NHL career. Ryan Poehling drew the assist and fans were wondering why Hellebuyck was still in the Jets goal.
But that's when Hellebuyck picked up his game and was a rock for the rest of the night. In fact, with less than three minutes remaining in the period and the officiating still a comedy of errors and incompetence, Hellebuyck stopped Rem Pitlick on a penalty shot after Pierre-Luc Dubois checked his stick cleanly from the side.
“Oh, that’s a huge turning point when you talk about momentum in games," head coach Dave Lowry said of Hellebuyck's stop on the penalty shot. "It’s either 5-4 for them, but we come right back after that and score. That was a huge moment in the game and it was probably a turning point in our favour.”
Not long after Hellebuyck's heroics on the penalty shot, Andrew Copp gave the Jets a 5-4 lead. Copp ripped a low wrist shot past Montembeault on the power play for his 13th of the season -- and in his first game back since missing five games with a concussion. Neal Pionk and Paul Stastny drew the assists and the Jets went to the second break with a one goal lead despite being outshot 24-17 (11-10 Jets, in the second period).
“You don’t like seeing your top players missing games," Lowry said of Copp. "I would put Copper in the group of our top guys. Obviously, tonight he played with Lows, and they gave us a checking line with Ves. It allowed us to move and change a couple matchups as the game went on. It is always nice to have depth in your lineup.”
In the third period, the Jets took a 6-4 lead at 2:46 when Scheifele scored his second of the night and 20th of the year on the power play, as he banked a shot off Ben Chiarot that deflected past Montembeault. Wheeler picked up the assist.
“Yeah," Scheifele said when asked if he purposely banked the puck off his old teammate. "You know, I saw the way that he was turned and it was just a cagey play.”
Dubois gave the Jets a 7-4 advantage on the power-play at 5:49 when he fired a shot, under the bar, past Montembeault on a three-on-two rush. Wheeler and Scheifele drew the assists as Habs coach Marty St. Louis decided Montembeault had had enough. Montembeault went straight to the locker after giving up seven goals on 22 shots.
Before the circus left town, Montreal's Chris Wideman decided he was going to fight Scheifele. It wasn't much of a fight but it did give Scheifele his Gordie Howe hat-trick -- two goals, an assist and a fight.
“First and last," Scheifele said of his Gordie Howe hat-trick. "I definitely wasn’t looking to go fight out there. It was just one of those things, spur of the moment. He kind of put me in a choke hold and it just went from there. It will probably be my first and last, but it’s one of those things."
Finally, with 2:34 left to play, Paul Stastny buried a shot from the slot on the power play to give Winnipeg an 8-4 lead. Lowry and Copp drew the assists on Stastny's 13th of the season. Interestingly, after it was revealed this week that Stastny gave money to the FreeDumb Convoy, there was a barely a cheer in the building when his name was announced as the goal scorer.
The Jets scored the first four and the last four and beat the visiting canadiens by four. Montreal outshot the Jets 35-29. The Jets outhit Canadiens 30-17 and won 63 per cent of the face-offs.
The three stars were Dubois, Anderson and Copp and Dubois clearly had the Jets best line of the night -- a goal, two assists and plus-two to go with six shots on goal in 19 minutes and seven seconds of ice time. Scheifele had the most interesting line -- two goals, an assist and yet was minus-one with five penalty minutes, two shots, two hits, a blocked shot, a fight and a takeaway in 18 minutes and 28 seconds of total ice time.
The Jets went three-for-six on the power play while the Canadiens were one-for-six.
The Jets play again, at home, on Friday night when the Dallas Stars come to town. Game time is 7 p.m.
It was a night when Blake Wheeler was playing his 800th game as a member of the franchise, Brenden Dillon was playing in the 700th game of his career and Nate Schmidt was playing the 500th game of his career. None of them will ever forget this one.
It was a game in which Svechnikov and Adam Lowry had stretched their goal-scoring streaks to three games each -- before the end of the first period. It was a game with 12 power plays, 38 minutes in penalties and a dozen goals. It was borderline wacko.
Not surprisingly, the Jets got off to their best start in months. Svechnikov tapped home a beautiful pass from Nate Schmidt to score his sixth of the season at 5:21 of the opening period. Kyle Connor also picked up an assist. Schmidt then scored just 36 seconds later at 5:57 as his shot from the blue line went past two players and through the legs of Habs netminder Samuel Montembeault. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Svechnikov drew the assists as the Jets got a little puck-luck for the fist time since mid-November.
Before the first period ended, there would be more fireworks. Adam Lowry scored his seventh of the year at 8:46 after converting a beautiful pass from Dylan DeMelo. then Mark Scheifele tallied his 19th of the season at 9:13 after Dubois and Connor combined on a couple of quick passes to open up Scheifele right in front of Montembeault. The Jets had four goals and their first six shots.
However, Montreal didn't back down. Josh Anderson scored his 13th of the season as Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck was fooled on a shot from an odd angle. Jeff Petry drew the assist and the Habs had cut the Jets lead to 4-1.
Montreal then made it 4-2 on the power play at the 17:00 minute mark as Anderson scored his second of the night and 14th of the year from Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. Suddenly, it was a game again.
Before the period ended, the Habs got even closer when Artturi Lehkonen was sent in alone and beat Hellebuyck between the wickets for his 10th of the season. Jake Evans drew the assist as the Canadiens went to the intermission trailing the Jets 4-3.
By the end of the period, there had been seven goals and seven penalties as referees Michael Markovic and Chris Schlenker had made a mockery of the sport. Montreal outshot Winnipeg 14-6 in the opening 20 minutes while Jets outhit Montreal 16-8.
The Canadiens eventually tied it at the 4:08 mark of the second period when Anderson went high on Hellebuyck, buried a wrister under the bar and recorded the first hat-trick of his NHL career. Ryan Poehling drew the assist and fans were wondering why Hellebuyck was still in the Jets goal.
But that's when Hellebuyck picked up his game and was a rock for the rest of the night. In fact, with less than three minutes remaining in the period and the officiating still a comedy of errors and incompetence, Hellebuyck stopped Rem Pitlick on a penalty shot after Pierre-Luc Dubois checked his stick cleanly from the side.
“Oh, that’s a huge turning point when you talk about momentum in games," head coach Dave Lowry said of Hellebuyck's stop on the penalty shot. "It’s either 5-4 for them, but we come right back after that and score. That was a huge moment in the game and it was probably a turning point in our favour.”
Not long after Hellebuyck's heroics on the penalty shot, Andrew Copp gave the Jets a 5-4 lead. Copp ripped a low wrist shot past Montembeault on the power play for his 13th of the season -- and in his first game back since missing five games with a concussion. Neal Pionk and Paul Stastny drew the assists and the Jets went to the second break with a one goal lead despite being outshot 24-17 (11-10 Jets, in the second period).
“You don’t like seeing your top players missing games," Lowry said of Copp. "I would put Copper in the group of our top guys. Obviously, tonight he played with Lows, and they gave us a checking line with Ves. It allowed us to move and change a couple matchups as the game went on. It is always nice to have depth in your lineup.”
In the third period, the Jets took a 6-4 lead at 2:46 when Scheifele scored his second of the night and 20th of the year on the power play, as he banked a shot off Ben Chiarot that deflected past Montembeault. Wheeler picked up the assist.
“Yeah," Scheifele said when asked if he purposely banked the puck off his old teammate. "You know, I saw the way that he was turned and it was just a cagey play.”
Dubois gave the Jets a 7-4 advantage on the power-play at 5:49 when he fired a shot, under the bar, past Montembeault on a three-on-two rush. Wheeler and Scheifele drew the assists as Habs coach Marty St. Louis decided Montembeault had had enough. Montembeault went straight to the locker after giving up seven goals on 22 shots.
Before the circus left town, Montreal's Chris Wideman decided he was going to fight Scheifele. It wasn't much of a fight but it did give Scheifele his Gordie Howe hat-trick -- two goals, an assist and a fight.
“First and last," Scheifele said of his Gordie Howe hat-trick. "I definitely wasn’t looking to go fight out there. It was just one of those things, spur of the moment. He kind of put me in a choke hold and it just went from there. It will probably be my first and last, but it’s one of those things."
Finally, with 2:34 left to play, Paul Stastny buried a shot from the slot on the power play to give Winnipeg an 8-4 lead. Lowry and Copp drew the assists on Stastny's 13th of the season. Interestingly, after it was revealed this week that Stastny gave money to the FreeDumb Convoy, there was a barely a cheer in the building when his name was announced as the goal scorer.
The Jets scored the first four and the last four and beat the visiting canadiens by four. Montreal outshot the Jets 35-29. The Jets outhit Canadiens 30-17 and won 63 per cent of the face-offs.
The three stars were Dubois, Anderson and Copp and Dubois clearly had the Jets best line of the night -- a goal, two assists and plus-two to go with six shots on goal in 19 minutes and seven seconds of ice time. Scheifele had the most interesting line -- two goals, an assist and yet was minus-one with five penalty minutes, two shots, two hits, a blocked shot, a fight and a takeaway in 18 minutes and 28 seconds of total ice time.
The Jets went three-for-six on the power play while the Canadiens were one-for-six.
The Jets play again, at home, on Friday night when the Dallas Stars come to town. Game time is 7 p.m.
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