The Montreal Canadiens did their part to stay in the tight playoff race in the Eastern Conference as they beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 on Saturday night at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg.
With the win, the Habs (42-29-8) remain tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who also won on Saturday night, at 92 points as they fight for one of the two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference. The Jets (45-29-4) have already clinched a spot in the postseason, but failed to gain on the Nashville Predators, who lost Saturday.
Montreal outshot Winnipeg 44-24. Habs goaltender Carey Price stopped 23 of 24 shots for his 34th win of the season. The Jets netminder, Connor Hellebuyck, stopped 41 of 43 shots in the loss.
The Canadiens had a fast start to the game although they didn’t score until late in the first. With 2:05 left to play, Joel Armia took advantage of a nice passing play, beating Hellebuyck from the slot just eight seconds into a Habs power play. The score remained 1-0 into the second period.
Montreal also scored late in the second, when Jeff Petry scored his 13th of the season on a one-timer pass from Brett Kulak with just 37 seconds left in the second period. Max Domi got his 43rd assist of the season on the goal and now has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his last seven games.
Dustin Byfuglien made his return in this one after missing 19 games due to an ankle injury. The Jets struggled to find their game in the first two periods, but they made a big push in the third. Matthew Perreault cut the Canadiens’ lead in half when he scored his 15th of the year 11:24 into the third period. But, it was too little too late as the Habs added an empty-netter with just 15 seconds left to make it 3-1.
The Habs’ playoff push continues as they are now 5-1-1 in their last seven games and have just three games left in the season, with all of them coming against playoff-bound opponents. They play the Lightning and the Capitals before hosting the Maple Leafs in the season finale next Saturday.
Catch the game’s highlights here.
Sources:
-All stats, info and videos courtesy of NHL.com
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