WPG@MTL: Postgame
The Canadiens' late rally attempt came up just short on Monday night at the Bell Centre
by Matt Cudzinowski @CanadiensMTL / canadiens.com
MONTREAL - The Canadiens were edged 3-2 by the Jets on Monday night at the Bell Centre.
Claude Julien's squad is now winless in six straight games.
Heading into the contest, there was plenty of excitement surrounding the debut of Ilya Kovalchuk, who joined the fold late last week on a one-year, two-way contract.
Tomas Tatar was in good spirits during the pregame warmup, stopping by for a quick selfie with these lucky fans before turning his attention to battling Winnipeg.
There were no goals to report during the first period, but the Canadiens held a 12-11 shot advantage through 20 minutes of play.
Special guest PCO - Perfect Creation One - entertained the Bell Centre faithful with his incredible effort when featured on the in-house Flex Cam.
Defenseman Josh Morrissey opened the scoring for the Jets just 92 seconds into the second period.
His point shot found its way through traffic and beat goaltender Carey Price to give Winnipeg the lead.
Left-winger Nikolaj Ehlers put the Jets up by a pair 3:15 later with a short-handed tally.
Ehlers converted a perfect feed from captain Blake Wheeler on the play.
Defenseman Ben Chiarot answered back for the Canadiens with a goal at the 11:03 mark of the period to cut the Jets' lead to 2-1.
It was his sixth goal of the season, and he set a brand new career-high in the process.
Both Shea Weber and Tatar collected their 20th assists of the season on Chiarot's goal.
That's the way things stood after 40 minutes.
And Price had something to do with that courtesy of this highlight-reel save on Kyle Connor with 90 seconds left in the period.
Centerman Andrew Copp put the Jets up 3-1 on a breakaway goal with 9:44 remaining in regulation time.
Chiarot brought the Canadiens to within a goal again with his second marker of the game.
He beat Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with a blistering wrist shot with 8:13 left in regulation.
Kovalchuk collected an assist on the goal for his first career point with Montreal.
Unfortunately, that's as close as the Habs would get.
The Canadiens will be back in action on Tuesday night when they battle the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.