Winnipeg Jets: Three Talking Points as the Jets Beat Montreal 4-2

The Winnipeg Jets started their five-game road trip with a 4-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens. Here are three talking points from the game.

The Winnipeg Jets started their huge five-game road trip yesterday against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. This game also was game one of a pair of games between Winnipeg and Montreal.

Ultimately the Jets performed well yesterday and skated to a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Here are three talking points from yesterday’s Jets win:

3. Fast Start Makes the Difference

Yesterday in our site’s game preview for this game, I wrote about how you should expect the Jets to start fast in this one, considering how they were well-rested coming into the game and Montreal played the night before in Toronto.

Little did I expect that this fast start would include the Jets scoring 18 seconds into the game, but that is exactly what the Jets did.

Right off of the opening faceoff the puck was pushed in deep towards Connor Hellebuyck’s net. Hellebuyck then shoveled the puck into the corner.

Adam Lowry received the puck in the corner and passed the puck to Mason Appleton, who was being pressured on the side wall, and he quickly redirected the puck to Mathieu Perreault who was moving quickly up the ice.

The Jets entered into the offensive zone on a three-on-two with speed. Lowry decided to go to the front of the net, which forced a defenseman to go with him. This play left a wide-open trailing Josh Morrissey.

Perreault moved the puck to Morrisey and fired a beautiful wrist shot off the post and in to give the Jets a 1-0 lead 18 seconds from the opening puck drop.

You could not ask for a better start from the Jets. Although the Canadiens tied the game just over a minute later, Winnipeg scored two more goals to give them a 3-2 lead after one period.

As you can see by the final scoreline, the first period made the difference in yesterday’s game. The Jets jumped on a team that played less than 24 hours ago and ultimately Montreal could not mount a comeback.

2. The Jets Adjust Without Blake Wheeler

The big news coming into this contest was that Winnipeg Jets’ captain, Blake Wheeler would be out indefinitely with a concussion.

Before this game, the Jets had not made a change to their lineup in weeks, but yesterday they were forced to reshuffle their lines due to the absence of Wheeler.

Paul Maurice and the Jets coaching staff decided to dress Jansen Harkins in Wheeler’s lineup spot and reshuffle every line except the “first line.”

Andrew Copp moved up to Wheeler’s spot on the wing alongside Pierre-Luc Dubois and Paul Stastny and Jansen Harkins was inserted on the fourth line with Nate Thompson and Trevor Lewis.

Mathieu Perreault then was promoted to the wing on the Jets’ third line with Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton.

These line changes were similar to the ones that the Jets made earlier this season when they traded for Dubois and he was in mandatory quarantine. To fill the vacant hole in the top-six, the Jets moved Copp up to the vacant spot, while moving Perreault up the depth chart and also inserting Harkins into the lineup.

It is fair to say that last night’s lines are somewhat familiar to the Jets and they worked well as the Jets picked up both points yesterday.

The Jets have seldom made lineup changes throughout this season and I think we will see these newly formed lines for the foreseeable future until Wheeler returns.