Canadiens five-game winning streak ended by Jets

WINNIPEG -- The Montreal Canadiens had their five-game winning streak end with an 8-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.

"I think we self-inflicted a lot," Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. "I think we took four or five defensive-zone penalties … There was not a lot of flow for a lot of the parts of the game. I think we're a really good team when we can play with a little more flow off the bench."
Mark Scheifele had two goals and an assist, and Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves for the Jets (24-21-9), who had lost four of five. Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and two assists, and Kyle Connor had three assists.
"We made plays, we put it on the tape," Scheifele said. "That's why we ended up taking over. We made the plays when we needed to and we made them precise, and at times we weren't as sharp as we could have been. But at the end of the day, you've got to make plays."

Josh Anderson scored his first NHL hat trick for the Canadiens (13-34-7), who are 5-4-0 since St. Louis replaced Dominique Ducharme on Feb. 9. Sam Montembeault allowed seven goals on 23 shots before being replaced by Andrew Hammond in the third period. Hammond made six saves on seven shots.
Winnipeg was 4-for-6 on the power play.
"The good was good, but too many penalties, too many opportunities for them," Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher said. "You can't be sitting in the box regardless how you feel, you know? Their power play is too good to give them that many opportunities."

The Jets took a 4-0 lead in the first period, including two goals in a span of 36 seconds. Evgeny Svechnikov made it 1-0 at 5:21 when he redirected Nate Schmidt's shot. Schmidt made it 2-0 at 5:57 on a slap shot from the point.
Adam Lowry extended it to 3-0 at 8:46, and Scheifele scored at 9:13 to make it 4-0 with a one-timer from the slot.
Anderson cut it to 4-1 with a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle at 11:18, and his power-play goal at 17:00 made it 4-2.
"Any time you start a game like that down four goals, it's difficult," Anderson said. "But the guys hung in there and the way we battled back as a team and were able to tie the game, there were a lot of good things."

Artturi Lehkonen made it 4-3 at 18:28 with a breakaway goal, and Anderson tied it 4-4 at 4:08 of the second period to complete his hat trick.
"Any time you lose the game it's frustrating," Anderson said. "I think we kind of [hurt] ourselves in the third period and it kind of got away from ourselves."
Andrew Copp's power-play goal gave the Jets a 5-4 lead at 17:17, scoring on a wrist shot from the left face-off dot.
"Everybody knows that the power play is your top players," Winnipeg coach Dave Lowry said. "If you are having success on the power play, usually your top players are dialed in. And for us, that was the case tonight."

Scheifele made it 6-4 at 2:46 of the third period, scoring from behind the goal line on the power play by banking it off Canadiens defenseman Ben Chiarot.
"I saw the way that he was turned and just a cagey play," Scheifele said. "You can tell their game has changed a bit. They're on the puck, they swarm, they make you make plays. You can't just throw your mess to someone else. You've got to make a play, you've got to handle the puck, you've got to get it under control quick and you've got to make a play. You've got to do it fast."
Dubois' power-play goal at 5:49 made it 7-4, and Paul Stastny scored on the power play at 17:26 for the 8-4 final.
"That was a crazy game, a lot of back and forth," Dubois said. "Tonight, to keep going and not panic too much feels really good. At this point of the year, we'll take the two points and be happy with it. We did a lot of good things. I think it's a game we can use to build off."
NOTES: The Jets became the first team in NHL history to relinquish a lead of four goals before winning by a four-goal margin. … The Jets and Canadiens are the third teams to combine for at least seven goals in the first period this season. … Prior to the five-game winning streak, Montreal had lost 10 straight (0-8-2). … Canadiens forward Mathieu Perreault, who played seven seasons for Winnipeg, had two shots on goal and a hit in 10:56 of ice time in his first game against his former team. … Blake Wheeler played his 800th game with the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers, the second player to do so (Bryan Little, 843).