Goaltender Jake Allen made 42 saves and three more in the shootout as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-3.

GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens vs Winnipeg Jets

Canadiens Lineup

Forwards

22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard
20 Juraj Slafkovsky - 15 Alex Newhook - 17 Josh Anderson
70 Tanner Pearson - 91 Sean Monahan - 11 Brendan Gallagher
55 Michael Pezzetta - 71 Jake Evans - 40 Joel Armia

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic 
21 Kaiden Guhle - 52 Justin Barron
72 Arber Xhekaj - 54 Jordan Harris

Goaltenders

Starter: 34 Jake Allen
Alternate: 35 Sam Montembeault 

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Cayden Primeau, Jesse Ylonen, Gustav Lindstrom

Injuries: Christian Dvorak (lower body), Carey Price (lower body), Chris Wideman (upper body), Kirby Dach (lower body),  David Savard (hand)

Game Report

Nick Suzuki scored the only goal of the shootout sending Bell Centre patrons home happy as the Canadiens beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-3. Cole Caufield and Sean Monahan could not beat Jets goaltender Laurent Brossoit. Jake Allen stopped all three Winnipeg shooters.

Bad starts were common last season and the self-inflicted disadvantage reared its ugly head again tonight. The Canadiens looked completely unprepared to start the hockey game.

The Jets thoroughly dominated the home team for the first 21 minutes of the game. Winnipeg outshot Montreal 18-6 in the first period. After facing 33 shot attempts,  Allen was the only reason that the game remained in a 1-1 tie going into the first intermission.

Winnipeg scored twice in the first 33 seconds of the second period taking a 3-1 lead. But the Canadiens cut the lead with a power play goal courtesy of Sean Monahan, his fourth of the season. Recently recalled Joel Armia tied the score just 1:54 into the third period.

Kaiden Guhle was the Canadiens best skater recording two assists in more than 25 minutes of ice time. Guhle was Montreal's most visible player returning to the lineup after missing four games with an upper body injury. Justin Barron scored his third goal of the season in just his fifth game. 

Allen was the best player on the ice turning aside 42 shots. The 33-year-old goaltender has not yet lost in regulation this season in four starts.

Mike Matheson did not play in the third period. The Canadiens announced that Matheson is day-to-day with a lower body injury but he will travel with the team on their upcoming road trip.

Game Statistics

Canadiens (5-2-1)
Shots: 29
Face-off %: 40.0
Power play: 1/2
Penalty minutes: 13
Hits: 18
Blocks: 19

Jets (4-3-1)
Shots: 45
Face-off %: 60.0
Power play: 0/4
Penalty minutes: 9
Hits: 7
Blocks: 10

Scoring Summary

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Barron (3)
2nd period: Monahan (4)-PPG
3rd period: Armia (1)
OT: No scoring
SO: Suzuki (game-deciding goal)

Jets Scorers
1st period: Lowry (1)- PS
2nd period: Lowry (2), Niederreiter (2)
3rd period: No scoring
OT: No scoring
SO: No scoring

Goaltenders
MTL: Allen (W) 3-0-1
WPG: Brossoit (OTL) 0-1-1

Canadiens Players of the Game

Jake Allen - Allen has three of the Canadiens wins and sports a .930 save percentage as well as a 2.63 goals against average.

Kaiden Guhle - In addition to his two assists, Guhle had four shots on goal and three blocked shots.

Justin Barron - Barron scored four goals in 39 games for the Canadiens last season. He already has three goals this year.

Video Highlights

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmV0THGbfFs[/embed]

Post-game Quotes

Kaiden Guhle on Jake Allen

“He's been a real brick wall his last three outings. He deserves a lot of the credit. He made big saves in important moments. I hope he continues like this, but I also wish him better help from us!"

Marty St. Louis

“This isn't the start we planned, but you have to keep going and move forward. It's a shame to start like this, but we still have plenty of time. I liked seeing the team fight to come back. There was nothing perfect, but we found a way to win.”

Game Preview

Guhle Returns, Armia To Make Season Debut | PREVIEW: WPG @ MTL

Up Next

The Canadiens will begin a three-game road trip on Monday starting in Las Vegas. Puck drop for the match against the Golden Knights is 10 pm. Eastern time.

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