Montreal Canadiens' Artturi Lehkonen celebrates Tyler Toffoli's goal against Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck during second-period NHL playoff action in Winnipeg on June 4, 2021.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
Echoing the confidence of someone who is only too familiar with the joys of lifting Lord Stanley’s cup at this time of year, Montreal winger Tyler Toffoli had urged the Canadiens to keep “playing the tight playoff hockey that we’re good at.”
While his teammates did their part in keeping the game tight, the 2014 Stanley Cup champion also did his, scoring the only goal of the game on Friday to sink the Jets 1-0 in Winnipeg.
The result means this best-of-seven North Division final now shifts back to Montreal for Sunday night’s game, with the Canadiens up 2-0 in the series. To make matters worse for the Jets, the Habs own an all-time series record of 51-5, when they lead 2-0 in a playoff series.
It was also the fifth successive playoff win for Montreal, just the third time the team has won five or more playoff games in the past 30 years, alongside 2014 and the unforgettable spring of 1993, when the team won 11 straight on its way to a 24th, and most recent, Stanley Cup.
Much of the credit, as ever, must go to Montreal goaltender Carey Price, who saved all 30 shots that Winnipeg sent his way for his eighth career-playoff shutout. It was just the third time the Jets had been shut out all season.
Price, who now trails only the 10 posted by co-leaders Ken Dryden and Jacques Plante in the team’s postseason record book, saved his best for last. Desperately searching for an equalizer, Winnipeg fired eight shots at him over the last three minutes and 20 seconds, to no avail.
“Obviously, they’re playing desperate hockey at the end of the game, and they’re just funnelling pucks towards the net, and it’s just a battle competing in front and some just hit you,” he said afterwards.
The Montreal goaltender, who also won five straight playoff games in the spring of 2014, leading the Habs to the conference final, is undoubtedly in the zone right now. Since Game 5 of the Toronto series in the first round, the 33-year-old has a goals-against average of 1.71 with a save percentage of .947.
When his sparkling statistics were pointed out to him post-game, though, he treated them like most of the pucks he had faced all night, simply deflecting them away.
“The guys did a great job in front,” he said. “It was a pretty complete team effort tonight.”
Two straight wins for Montreal is a far cry from the regular season between these two teams, when Winnipeg held a 6-3 edge in the nine meetings between them, although three of those victories were won in overtime.
Winnipeg winger Nikolaj Ehlers, one of three players to beat Price in Game 1, said the team is confident the tide will turn when the series resumes in Montreal.
“We just got to keep doing what we’re doing. I think we had a lot of great chances,” he said. “I mean if we keep doing what we’re doing it’s going to go in.”
Tight-checking hockey is certainly a theme in this year’s playoffs. Including Friday’s result in Winnipeg, 28 of the 55 games played so far have been decided by a one-goal margin, almost 51 per cent.
Montreal’s Ben Chiarot credits his team’s defensive system though, and thinks it’s a big part of why his team has improved to 4-1 in such games in these playoffs.
“They’ve got an aggressive forecheck,” he said. “[But] we’re doing a good job of supporting each other and defending in our own zone and I think it’s, it’s a big key why we’re having success.”
With Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele serving the first-game of his four-game suspension for the concussion-inducing hit on Jake Evans in the final minute of the opening game, neither team expected any carry-over heading into Game 2.
“A price has been paid,” Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice said on Friday morning. “There’s too much on the line here for both teams to run around. And we’re 20 years past having either team have a bunch of guys [just to mix it up].
“There’s nobody in either lineup that’s there for that role solely. Will it be physical? Sure, but nobody’s taking penalties to exact revenge.”
Habs captain Shea Weber, who was visibly angered at the end of Game 1, was more succinct.
“We’re done talking about the hit,” he said. “They’re missing a player, we’re missing a player.”
The pre-game predictions held true during the opening exchanges, as both teams played a fairly low-key first period, devoid of even a single penalty. Winnipeg edged its opponent in both shots (8-7) and hits (27-14).
With Scheifele out, Pierre-Luc Dubois took his spot on the top line between Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor. With shuffling occurring throughout the lineup, Jansen Harkins drew into the lineup on the fourth line for his first playoff action of 2021. Artturi Lehkonen replaced Evans on the Habs’ top line, centred by Phillip Danault.
Jets are spared Habs’ wrath with Mark Scheifele’s suspension
By and large, the Jets have managed to ride out the absence of Scheifele since he became a regular with the team entering the 2013-14 season, posting a 28-19-8 record without their No. 1 centre before Friday’s game.
Corey Perry had arguably the best chances of the opening 20 minutes for either team, getting two bites to score following a centring pass from Lehkonen, but Connor Hellebuyck was equal to him.
Predictably, it took the first penalty of the night for either team to break through, although it was the offending team that lit the lamp less than two minutes into the second period. With Paul Byron in the box for a high stick, Weber sprung Tyler Toffoli and Lehkonen for a 2-on-1 break.
Exhibiting the confidence of someone who led his team in both goals and points during the regular season, Toffoli toe-dragged the puck around a backchecking Connor, before beating the reigning Vézina Trophy winner to give his team the opening goal for the seventh time in these playoffs. Montreal is now 6-1 in games in which it scores first.
Eric Staal had a golden chance to double the lead in the final minute of the second period, but he shot wide on a breakaway.
Facing the possibility of going back to Montreal down 0-2 in the series, Winnipeg began the third showing more desperation than it had shown in the first 40 minutes. But Montreal survived an early tripping penalty to Weber, and Habs defenders threw themselves in front of Winnipeg shots, while Price stood tall, and the pucks that he didn’t save went high or wide of his goal, such as a Derek Forbort effort from the high slot.
Montreal had a pair of 2-on-1 chances to double its lead inside the final 10 minutes, but Hellebuyck denied first Byron and then Nick Suzuki to keep the deficit at one.
Those misses could have proved costly. With Winnipeg in the midst of its late flurry, Connor found himself all alone in front with a chance to tie things up with three seconds to go, but Price, as he had done all night, broke Jets hearts once again.
With files from Dylan Earis