GAMEDAY: Jets at Canadiens

The family and friends of Pierre-Luc Dubois are always happy when he makes a visit to his home province of Quebec, but another family in the crowd at Bell Centre tonight will be equally as thrilled when the Winnipeg Jets (29-14-1) take on the Montreal Canadiens (18-23-3).
That's the family of Jets forward Morgan Barron, and Canadiens defenceman Justin Barron.
Tonight marks the first time the two brothers will face off in a National Hockey League game.
"I feel like we've had a few chances to play each other and one of us has been hurt, or sent down, or something like that," said Morgan after the Jets morning skate. "So it's been a long time coming. We're looking forward to it."

The last time the Jets were in Montreal, back on April 11, 2022, and there was a hope in the Barron household that night could be the first NHL meeting between Morgan and Justin. But an ankle injury sidelined the young defenceman prior to that night, and it was announced just a day later that Justin required surgery.

The older brother made sure to still put on a show, however. Morgan had his first multi-point game in the NHL (with a goal and an assist) as the Jets prevailed by a score of 4-2.
That night, with only one of their sons playing, it was likely an easy decision for the parents in terms of which jersey to wear in the stands.
Tonight, well, it might be a bit more complicated.
"They were a little worried to be wearing Jets jerseys in a Canadiens crowd. So they might be a little bit undercover, but we'll see," Morgan said. "Maybe one will cheer for one of us, and the other will cheer for the other. That would be my best guess."
As for Dubois, he'll have roughly 14 people in the stands, a mix of friends and family, for his lone visit to his home province this season.
"Having friends and family come to games is special," said Dubois. "That's a fun little boost to get. It's always big games here."

In his career, Dubois has nine goals and 19 points in 21 games against the Canadiens. He's off to an incredible start this season and hopes to carry that momentum into Montreal tonight.
The 24-year-old's power play marker in Sunday's 2-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes was his 20th goal of the season (the fourth time in his career that he's hit that mark) and he has his sights set on besting his career highs in goals (28, set last season) and points (61, set in 2018-19).
However, Jets head coach Rick Bowness feels all of that offensive success has been due to the work Dubois has done in the defensive zone.
"He's so strong in our zone, he breaks up a lot of plays, and we're able to generate a lot of offence because of what he does defensively," said Bowness. "Even on the forecheck, you watch him, he's very good with his stick. He's a big man with a long stick, he breaks up a lot of plays. He's very good at hanging onto the puck and making plays."

Despite the fact Nikolaj Ehlers didn't take the morning skate for maintenance purposes, Bowness expects the speedy forward to play against Montreal tonight.
The projected line-up for Winnipeg, with Connor Hellebuyck in goal, looks like this:
Connor-Dubois-Ehlers
Perfetti-Scheifele-Wheeler
Barron-Lowry-Kuhlman
Jonsson-Fjallby-Stenlund-Maenalanen
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Heinola-Schmidt
The Jets are in the midst of playing eight of nine games away from home, with tonight's game in Montreal kicking off the start of a season-long five-game road trip. On the flip side, tonight's tilt marks the start of a five-game home stand for the Canadiens.
In the only other meeting between the two teams this season, Kyle Connor scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 Jets victory on November 3, 2022.
While the Jets are battling for top spot in the Central Division and the Western Conference, the Canadiens are eighth in the Atlantic Division. However, just a look at their record in January, which sits at 3-4-0, shows that head coach Martin St. Louis has his group playing hard every night.
"We're all competitors and we all want to win. So, we all say we're going to be patient and we're going to develop and everything else. But when the puck drops, we all want to win," said Bowness, asked about Montreal's focus on development. "you walk a fine line, that you have to be patient but you also have to be driven because players have to feel that you're here to win that game regardless. They want to win."
The Jets do as well, if not only for points in the standings, it's also so Morgan can have some bragging rights over his brother until they meet again.
Puck drop is set for 6 pm CT.
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
Game Notes
The Jets have won three games in a row for the sixth time this season. It's tied with the Boston Bruins for the most winning streaks of at least three games this season. The Jets had five such streaks last season.
The Jets won their third game of the season by a 2-1 score on Sunday. Winnipeg joins Toronto, Nashville, and Minnesota as the only teams in the NHL this season with three wins by a 2-1 score.
The Jets are in the midst of playing 10 of 13 games against Eastern Conference opponents. Winnipeg is 8-7-0 against the Eastern Conference this season, but have won three of the past four games.
The Jets are 12-8-1 on the road this season and have won three of their past four road contests. Winnipeg is 3-4-0 in their past seven road games after starting the season 9-4-1 away from home.
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