The Canadian did not give up, but he still saw his winning streak be reduced to five.
Mark Scheifele had two goals and an assist, Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and two assists and the Winnipeg Jets defeated Montreal 8-4 on Tuesday at Canada Life Centre.
The Canadian quickly found himself in front of a four-goal deficit and managed to climb the slope, before seeing the Jets go for a second push towards victory.
The Jets scored four power-play goals. The victory allowed them to avenge their elimination in four games against the Canadian in the second round of the playoffs last spring.
Josh Anderson sounded the charge with three goals for the Canadian (13-34-7). Artturi Lehkonen also hit the target, while Samuel Montembeault allowed seven goals on 23 shots.
Andrew Hammond finished the game in front of the Habs net and stopped six shots.
Evgeny Svechnikov, Nate Schmidt, Andrew Copp, Adam Lowry and Paul Stastny each had a goal and an assist for the Jets (24-21-9). Kyle Connor had three assists and Blake Wheeler had two. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 31 shots.
Joel Armia was back in action for the Canadiens after a four-game absence. Michael Pezzetta gave him his place in the training.
The Canadiens will play their next game on Thursday, when they visit the Calgary Flames.
In three times
The Jets scored four goals on their first six shots and took the lead with double bursts in 36- and 27-second intervals in the first 10 minutes of play.
Svechnikov and Schmidt hit the mark first. Montembeault looked bad on Schmidt’s goal at 5:57, but the puck seemed to graze Lehkonen’s stick before catching him off guard.
Lowry and Scheifele then widened the gap. Lowry hit the mark when the teams were going four-on-four, while Scheifele rattled the ropes as a four-on-three power play had just ended.
The second half of the first period was the affair of the Canadian, while the Jets did not challenge Montembeault once during the rest of the engagement.
Anderson whipped the Canadian by scoring a first goal at 11:18, taking advantage of Hellebuyck’s largesse. He returned to the charge with 180 seconds to go in the first twenty, on the power play.
Lehkonen then allowed the Habs to return to the locker room with a one-goal deficit on the board. The Finn scored his 10th goal of the season with 1:32 to go, scoring on a breakaway.
Anderson completed the comeback by scoring his third goal of the game at 4:08 of the second period, on a three-on-one counterattack.
Rem Pitlick could have offered the Canadian a first lead in the game with just over three minutes to go in the second period. He escaped shorthanded, then was batted by Dubois and the referees awarded him a penalty shot. Hellebuyck, however, frustrated Pitlick with his shield.
The Jets regained the lead 18 seconds later on the power play. Copp surprised Montembeault, who looked out of position.
This time, the Jets managed to stun the Canadiens by adding two power play goals early in the third period. Scheifele and Dubois hit the mark.
The Jets’ seventh goal signaled the end of Montembeault’s work night.
Brendan Gallagher managed to beat Hellebuyck before the end, but he did it with his skate and the goal was disallowed for the Canadian.
Stastny turned the iron in the wound by adding the eighth goal for his team with 2:34 to go.