Three things - DiVincentiis puts on a show at Bell Centre

MONTREAL – The Winnipeg Jets beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 tonight in their first game of the 2025 Prospect Showdown at the Bell Centre. Danny Zhilkin scored the game winning goal with 25 seconds left in the third period and Dominic DiVincentiis made 38 saves to lead the Jets. Winnipeg will face Ottawa tomorrow night at 6 pm CT and you can watch that game on winnipegjets.com.

DOM’S NIGHT

DiVincentiis was ready to go from the drop of the puck and made a bunch of highlight reel saves throughout the night and was the Jets best player.

“I’ve said that to everybody around here, I think the goalie was our best player,” said Jets head coach Mark Morrison.

“He made some outstanding saves.”

DiVincentiis was drafted by the Jets in the seventh round in 2022 at the Bell Centre and he made sure his return to Montreal was a memorable one in front of 20 thousand plus.

“The nerves and excitement were though the roof for us, but we really stepped into our game quickly,” said DiVincentiis.

“The guys did a fantastic job tonight keeping that game tight.”

ZHILKIN TAKES CARE OF BUSINESS

Like DiVincentiis, Danny Zhilkin was also drafted by Winnipeg in 2022. The Jets centreman helped the team overcome the loss of Kieron Walton in the first period, forcing them to play with just 11 forwards the rest of the night. On top of his game winner, Zhilkin scored Winnipeg’s first goal on the power play in the second period and blocked a shot late in the game to preserve the win.

“It was unbelievable. There were guys blocking shots, all four lines were doing the things we were asked to do,” said Zhilkin.

“It was unbelievable. One of the best games I’ve ever been a part of, that was a super fun experience.”

ANOTHER PROVIDENCE GUY

Winnipeg has had great success finding players from Providence College over the years, Brandon Tanev and Parker Ford come to mind. It seems they might have found another gem in Chase Yoder. The 23-year-old just wrapped up his fifth campaign at Providence and signed with the Moose in the off-season. Yoder assisted on Zhilkin’s game winning goal and back in the second period, tied the game at two with this effort.