Barron seizes opportunity as Jets earn win in Montreal

MONTREAL -With Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler out of the line-up, Morgan Barron earned the opportunity to play up in the line-up against the Montreal Canadiens.
And did he ever rise to the occasion.
The 23-year-old recorded his first goal as a member of the Jets (35-28-11), then added an assist, to help the Jets to a 4-2 win on Monday night.
"I was excited. I played a few shifts with those guys the other night and it felt good. They're two really good players," said Barron.
"I thought we had lots of chances. To get the goal, and for Stas to get his goal as well, it was good momentum for our team. Even after that, we continued to create chances. It was good."
He had nothing but praise for his line mates - Nikolaj Ehlers and Paul Stastny - for helping him along. To make it even better, he was able to put on a bit of a show with his parents at the Bell Centre to see him play. His younger brother, Justin, plays for the Canadiens, but wasn't in the line-up on Monday.
"We also missed an opportunity earlier in the year where he got up for his first game against the Rangers and I had just been sent down, like two days earlier. So we've kind of been dancing around it," Barron said. "I actually went and saw him today, him and my parents and my aunt and uncle are actually in town, too. We didn't skate this morning, which is nice. I actually got to go and say hi for a few minutes."

Along with Barron's two points, the Jets had goals from Stastny, Evgeny Svechnikov, and Adam Lowry in the victory that gave them all four points on a two-game road trip, and now sit five points back of the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference.
"Playing against a fresh team, they play fast, they play aggressive, and they have skill. They get their chances to score. I like the way we played for the most part," said Josh Morrissey.
"Right now it's just about winning games. It's a big four points for us."
After a scoreless first period, it only took 29 seconds into the second for the Canadiens to get on the board. Christian Dvorak led a rush up the ice and whipped a shot from the high slot. Connor Hellebuyck - making his second start in as many nights - made the stop, but Joel Armia was there to pop in the rebound for his sixth of the season.
Montreal's 1-0 lead only lasted 1:17, as Barron snapped home a wrist shot from the left circle to tie things up. Barron's second career NHL goal - and first with the Jets - came off a rush, as he followed up Ehlers and ripped the drop pass past Sam Montembeault. For Ehlers, that extended his point streak to seven games, matching his career-long from 2016-17.

"It was a great play. It's funny, with Nik out there sometimes you feel like he doesn't even see you but I think that's what he wants everyone else to think," said Barron.
"I think he just sucked that defenceman in and it created a hole for me. I had some time to get a shot off. I just let it go, I didn't even see it go in the net actually."
Barron wasn't done, as he set up the go-ahead marker 2:14 later. Barron made a nice move to avoid the check of Rem Pitlick, then found Paul Stastny in some space in the slot. Stastny didn't hesitate, firing a shot on goal that beat Montembeault on the glove side. For Stastny, it was his 20th of the season, the seventh time he's hit that mark in his career - but first time since 2013-14 with the Colorado Avalanche.
"We liked his game. Big body. Got inside. Kept his feet moving. Created some offence. They moved the puck well. They played off each other," Jets interim head coach Dave Lowry said of Barron and his line. "Sometimes it's just finding a spot for a guy and sometimes, it's like we always say, the injuries provide opportunities, and tonight he took advantage of it."
In that short span, Barron had his first multi-point game in the NHL, as did Dylan Samberg - who picked up the secondary assist on both goals.
The Jets had multiple chances to extend the lead in the second, as they outshot Montreal 17-12. Ehlers, Svechnikov, and Pierre-Luc Dubois were all stopped on cross-ice one-timers, and leading goal scorer Kyle Connor hit the post trying to go high on the stick side.

Not connecting on those chances allowed Montreal to tie the game in the third. Jeff Petry's point blast, off a face-off win by Nick Suzuki, went off Josh Anderson in the slot and past Hellebuyck to even things up at 2-2 with 13:41 to go in regulation. It was Anderson's 100th career goal and 18th of the season.
Svechnikov put the Jets ahead 3-2 with 8:59 left, as he finished off a three-way passing play with line mates Dubois and Connor for his seventh of the season. Svechnikov's shot from the slot slipped between the legs of Montembeault.
"I thought we were extremely resilient tonight and nothing seemed to get us off track," said Lowry. "I thought our group was really committed to playing a certain way. We knew that, if we stayed with our game, we would create opportunities. We give up the goal early in the third and then Dubie's line goes back out and Geno gets a big goal for us."
Lowry added an empty netter with 1:29 remaining in the third to finish off the game.
The Jets now return home to take on the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.