TEMPE – Even though the Winnipeg Jets haven’t seen the Montreal Canadiens since October 28, they’ve seen a lot of the Canadiens in the last couple of games.
The reason? Well, take a look at the previous opponents for the teams on the first two stops of this road trip.
The Vegas Golden Knights played Montreal prior to Winnipeg rolling into T-Mobile Arena for the November 2 match-up. Then, Arizona defeated the Canadiens prior to the Jets arriving for their divisional tilt with the Coyotes on November 4.
And when putting together the pre-scout for the road trip finale against the St. Louis Blues? Well, Montreal appears again, as they dropped a 6-3 decision to St. Louis on the same day the Jets beat the Coyotes.
“We’re following them around it seems like,” laughed assistant coach Brad Lauer. “We talked about that the other day. I think we’re on the same type of road trip. A lot of the game film we’re watching has been against Montreal, but we try to go back three or four games, if we can, to get a bit of a different scout.”
The Jets (5-4-2) hit the ice in Arizona one last time on Monday before hopping on a plane to St. Louis, where they’ll finish off this three-game trek with another divisional tilt.
So far, Winnipeg is a perfect two-for-two against Central opponents this season with wins over Arizona and St. Louis. And with fellow divisional foes in Nashville and Dallas coming into Winnipeg later this week, the time is now to gain valuable points over their Central counterparts.
“We talk about it a lot, how important our division games are and staying focused, making sure they get our A game every time we’re playing against our division,” said Lauer. “Another good test for us coming up.”
At 5-4-1, the Blues sit one point behind the Jets for third in the Central Division standings. After Winnipeg won the first meeting of the season between the two clubs (4-2 on October 24), St. Louis won three of their next five games, including decisive 4-1 and 6-3 victories over New Jersey and Montreal respectively.
“Listening to their coach talk the other night, they thought they lost the game (against Winnipeg) on two mistakes,” said Lauer. “Their team has been playing well so we have to make sure we’re ready to go.”
Those two mistakes likely come on two slot shot opportunities the Jets generated, both of which led to goals from David Gustafsson and Mason Appleton. Those tallies, 18 seconds apart, gave the Jets a 2-0 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
Defensively, the Blues are playing a similar defensive style to Vegas.
“A lot of teams have kind of switched their system to that Vegas style, the way they play,” said Mark Scheifele, who had an assist in that win over St. Louis. “It’s just a matter of going to the right areas. It’s not always about finding open ice, sometimes you have to go to the covered ice to open up someone else. There is a lot that goes into it, but it comes with hard work and getting on the forecheck, creating loose pucks, and going from there.”
SMALL AREA GAMES
With Neal Pionk, Dylan Samberg, Alex Iafallo, and Dominic Toninato away from the team to be in Minnesota for Adam Johnson’s funeral and celebration of life, the Jets didn’t use Monday’s practice for much five-on-five work.
Instead, the focus was on small area drills and, later, a scrimmage.
Away from the rink, the trip – which is three games in length with three practice days and an off-day included – has been valuable for bringing the group closer together.
“It’s really important, especially early in the season like this,” said Scheifele. “A lot of new faces on this team, it’s really important to get out in the sun and enjoy being together as a team. It’s huge. It’s always good to have this time early in the season to really get to know guys and have fun with them. It’s been great.”
