In Montreal, Nick Suzuki scored his second goal of the game, and Tyler Toffoli added a marker in the third period for the Canadiens to break a 3-3 tie and give Montreal a 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.
Jake Allen made 19 save in the win.
“We know how important these games are coming to the end of the season,” Suzuki said after the Canadiens came back to win for the second time this season after trailing by multiple goals. “We’re missing a few key pieces and a lot of guys stepped up big tonight. And, yeah, I don’t think we should be scared to be down. We’re a good team. We can come back, so it’s definitely a confidence boost for our group.”
Trevor Lewis struck for two Jets goals.
“I think adversity is a good thing,” Lewis said. “It’s a good thing we’re going through it now and not in a couple weeks, so I just think we learn from it. It doesn’t come easy sometimes, so you’ve just got to find a way through it. I think everyone’s got to simplify things and get back to the grind and what got us here, and I think we’ll be better for it.”
Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia also scored for Montreal, who trailed 0-2 and 1-3 in the game.
“It wouldn’t be fair to disclose exactly what he’s got right now, so we won’t do that,” Montreal head coach Dominiqu Ducharme said. “They’re running more tests tomorrow, and hopefully he’ll be back soon.”
Paul Stastny opened the scoring in the game to give the Jets a 1-0 lead.
“You get to 3-1 and you’re feeling good about your game,” Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice said. “And normally there’s enough positive feeling on the bench that [if] one bad thing goes on you, you’ll be able to hold on. So even coming out into the third, you know at three, you’re not dejected by it, they’re going a little better. Yeah, that’s a tougher one for sure.”
Toffoli’s goal was an empty-netter that iced the win.
“It’s a good lesson for us,” Montreal’s Ben Chiarot said. “… You have to continue to stay in the game, stay in the fight and continue to push, and I thought our guys did a great job of that tonight, not kind of feeling sorry for ourselves, we’re down two goals, and shutting it down. We continued to push and kept playing, and I was proud of the way that we responded after that.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves in the loss.
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