Winnipeg Jets Playoffs: Preview of the Montreal Canadiens Series

The Winnipeg Jets had to wait a week since they completed the four-game sweep over the Edmonton Oilers to find out who they would match up against in the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Winnipeg was awaiting the winner of the series between the number one seed, Toronto Maple Leafs versus, the number four seed, Montreal Canadiens.

Ultimately that series went all seven games as the Canadiens completed an epic comeback to climb back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series four games to three.

The Winnipeg Jets will battle the Montreal Canadiens in the second round of the playoffs

This matchup will definitely be a must watch as the Jets and Canadiens will battle in a best-of-seven that will crown the first ever “North Division Champion.”

Here’s a preview of the Jets vs. Canadiens second round series:

The Season Series

As we all know after the first round, the season series means absolutely nothing when it comes to playoff hockey. The Jets got absolutely dominated by the Oilers during the regular season going 2-7-0, but then in the first round, they swept Edmonton.

Regardless of this, let’s look back on what transpired between Winnipeg and Montreal during the 2021 regular season:

The first time these teams met was in the last week in February and this included four games within a week in a half with each team hosting two of those games.

Winnipeg started this series on fire. The Jets won the first three games of the season series including beating the Canadiens twice in overtime.

The Canadiens were able to bounce back the next two games against the Jets and win those games including giving the Jets their biggest loss of the season in a 7-1 rout in Montreal.

Then, Winnipeg won the next three contests of this series and the sides split their final two matchups.

In total, three of the nine games between the Jets and Canadiens went into overtime during the regular season. Winnipeg won the season series 6-3 including going 3-1-0 at Bell MTS Place.

The Schedule

Since Winnipeg finished the regular season in third place in the North Division, the only way that could get home ice advantage in the second round was if the fourth-seeded, Canadiens also won their series and that is exactly what happened.

That means the Winnipeg Jets will be on home ice for games one and two at Bell MTS Place. The series will then move to the Bell Centre for games three and four. If necessary, games five and seven will be in Winnipeg, and game six will be in Montreal.

The NHL, along with the Winnipeg Jets, has released the start times for the first three games of this series.

The schedule is listed below with the start times listed in central time and the home team is listed in parentheses:

Game 1: 6/1 6:30 p.m. (Winnipeg)

Game 2: 6/4 6:30 p.m. (Winnipeg)

Game 3: 6/6 5:00 p.m. (Montreal)

Game 4: 6/7 (Montreal)

Game 5: 6/9 (Winnipeg)

Game 6: 6/11 (Montreal)

Game 7: 6/13 (Winnipeg)

Winnipeg Jets Fans: Will the Winnipeg Jets win this series and advance to the Semifinals? Leave your predictions below!

*All Stats Provided by the NHL*