Jets sliced up by buzz saw in Montreal

By Scott Taylor

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Michael Hutchinson suffered his first loss of the season on Sunday night. It was probably a good thing that he was no longer in net when the game ended.

The Montreal Canadiens built a 4-0 lead just three minutes and two seconds into the second period and coasted to a 5-1 victory over the Jets at Le Centre Bell in Montreal.

Thomas Fleischmann celebrates his first of two goals.

Paul Byron and Thomas Fleischmann scoded in the first period to give the habs a 2-0 lead after the first period, then Fleischmann and David Desharnais each scored by the 3:02 mark of the second period and the Habs were on their way.

Before the second period ended, Lars Eller deflected a shot from Andrei Markov and beat Ondrej Pavelec on the power play to make it 5-0 Habs.

The Jets scored the only goal of the third period when Chris Thorburn wrested one past Montreal’s Michael Condon. Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers drew the assists. Ehlers parents were at the game.

This one was all Montreal right from the opening faceoff. The Habs took the play to the Jets, outskated Winnipeg and took advantage of the fact that Winnipeg’s defensive play was marginal – the Jets D was far too aggressive and they were caught early and often. Combine Winnipeg’s shaky goaltending with a Montreal team that has been terrific this season and you have a recipe for disaster.

Michael Hutchinson stops Thomas Fleischmann. That was rare.

Fleischmann had two goals, Desharnais had a goal and two assists and the line of Fleischmann, Desharnais and Winnipeg’s Dale Weise (one assist) combined for six points as the Habs improved to 5-0-0 at home this season. It’s the first time in 36 years that the Canadiens have started a season 5-0-0. Montreal is now 11-2-0 on the season, first overall in the NHL.

With the loss, the Jets fell to 7-4-1 on the season and 4-2-0 on the road. It was the first time this season that the Jets lost the second game of a back-to-back on the road. Winnipeg beat Columbus 3-2 on Saturday night. The Jets have already played three back-to-backs on the road this season.

Hutchinson started the game but was taken out after allowing Montreal’s fourth goal at 3:02 of the second period. Hutchinson stopped only five of the nine shots he faced.

Micheal Condon stops Nikolaj Ehlers.

Pavelec was better, stopping 14-of-15 Montreal shots, but no one was as good as Montreal netminder Michael Condon. Condon started ahead of Carey Price who is nursing a lower body injury. The undrafted rookie out of Princeton who spent the better part of two seasons in the ECHL, stopped 18-of-the-19 shots he faced.

Montreal outshot Winnipeg 26-19. Montreal was one-for-five on the power play while the Jets were zero-for-three.

The Jets continue this four-game road swing on Wednesday night with a game at Air Canada Centre in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. Game time is 6 p.m. on Rogers Sportsnet’s Wednesday Night Hockey.

Posted by: Scott Taylor for RiverCitySports.com