An all-Canadian matchup will take place in Winnipeg on Saturday night when the Jets face off against the Montreal Canadiens, with both teams looking for some consistency.
After a dominant 8-1 win over Boston on Tuesday, the Jets were unable to keep the momentum going, losing 3-2 to Vegas on Thursday. Late in the third period, they found themselves in a 5-on-3 situation, which allowed the tying goal and eventually led to Ivan Barbashev scoring the overtime winner.
“I don’t think we attacked like they attack,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel after the loss.
“When you get away from some of the things you want to do on a consistent basis, you just keep pounding it home,” he continued, referring to the team’s pace of play.
“You keep trying to make sure that guys recognize that there’s a way we need to play to create offense, the way we need to play (defense) to not allow the opposition opportunities… hopefully for next game that’ll be a lot better.”
Despite the challenges, there’s a bright spot for Winnipeg: Nikita Chibrikov. He’s scored in each of his first three NHL games (one last season and two this week), setting a franchise record.
“You see a lot of little plays that he’s making over there,” said teammate Josh Morrissey. “It’s not an easy transition coming up from the minors and not playing at the start of the season with our team… hopefully he keeps that pace up.”
On the other side, the Canadiens are struggling after a tough 9-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday, where they gave up six goals in the third period.
“To me, it was more disappointment. To me, anger is an emotion, disappointment is a feeling,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis when asked about his emotions during the game.
“Every play matters in this league. There’s not one action on the ice that can’t affect the outcome of the game. … Unfortunately, sometimes I feel it’s part of our growth and we hope that these moments happen less and less, and when they happen they can’t happen consecutive times.”
The Canadiens are looking to recover from this defeat, and they’ll need to quickly shake off the loss before facing the Jets on the road.
“It’s frustrating. It’s disappointing … but (we) should have every reason to respond with our best effort here in Winnipeg,” said forward Brendan Gallagher after the loss to Pittsburgh. “It’s a good challenge for us and I trust that our group will put forth a better effort.”
Montreal is led by Nick Suzuki, who has 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists). He scored one of the Canadiens’ two goals against Pittsburgh and has earned points in eight straight games (four goals, seven assists).
David Savard is uncertain to return for Montreal after being ruled out on Thursday with an upper-body injury. For Winnipeg, Dylan Samberg is still recovering from a broken foot, and Nikolaj Ehlers is skating again but hasn’t started progressing toward game action.
