A game on the outdoor rink couldn’t reverse the Winnipeg Jets’ fortunes.
The Jets lost their fifth straight game with a 2-1 defeat to the Montreal Canadiens in the Heritage Classic on Sunday at Princess Auto Stadium.
The Jets were almost shutout again in a Heritage Classic as it took them over 55 minutes to score a goal after being blanked by the Edmonton Oilers in the last outdoor game in Winnipeg in 2016.
After a scoreless first period, the Habs scored goals less than four minutes apart in the second period and held on for the victory.
“I thought we got better as the game went on,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “I thought we started a little bit slow. Obviously the third period was our best period. Their goaltender was real good.
“Probably the biggest thing for me, we didn’t have enough traffic on (Jacob) Fowler. We didn’t make it a little bit more difficult for him to kinda find pucks and that’s just something that we got to make sure that we do a better job at.”
The Jets outshot the Canadiens in all three periods, but Fowler made 33 stops as the 21-year-old became the youngest goalie in NHL history to start an outdoor game.
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The Jets now have five straight one-goal losses.
“We look at that game and there’s areas we got to clean up,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry. “I think in that stretch, there’s been a couple games where we haven’t liked but then it’s been one thing, whether it’s the penalty kill or a couple of D-zone faceoffs that has been the difference. They’ve been tight one-goal games and it’s about finding a way to be on the right side of that.”
Isak Rosen scored the lone marker for the Jets while Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle had the goals for Montreal.
Elias Salomonsson had over 17 minutes of ice time in his season debut after starting the campaign on the injured list following off-season shoulder surgery. And Dawson Mercer made his Jets’ debut after being acquired on Friday in the Connor Hellebuyck trade. He started on their third line but also spent some time on their second line in the final period.
“Pretty cool experience,” Mercer said. “Definitely worse situation to be thrown into, but honestly a pretty special one that’ll I definitely cherish. Obviously, the outcome is not what we wanted but overall, nice to get going with the guys right away and then build on it from here.”
Winnipeg has scored just six goals over their last four games with their power play now 0-for-12 during that stretch.
The Jets top line had eight of their first 10 shots on net.
“We need other people stepping up,” Arniel said. “It makes it hard if all the heat’s on Schife’s (Mark Scheifele) line to try to do that. That’s part of that mindset of our players that, like I just talked about, you got to get to the net. You got to go get greasy goals, some that bounce off your skate or your foot or your back, whatever it is.”
The Jets outshot them 34-21 as Stuart Skinner made 19 stops in the loss.
With the Hellebuyck trade and the Heritage Classic now behind them, the Jets will be looking for a fresh start when they host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
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