For nearly 58 minutes, it looked as though Jacob Fowler was going to continue making life miserable for the Winnipeg Jets. The Canadiens rookie had once again been outstanding against Winnipeg, turning aside everything thrown his way and seemingly on his way to another shutout. But the Jets weren't about to go quietly into the night.
Down 4-0 late in the third period, Winnipeg finally found its offence and turned a seemingly comfortable Montreal victory into a wild finish. The Jets struck for four goals in the final minutes, sending a jolt through the Bell Centre before Dylan Samberg ended Winnipeg's nine-game winless streak with the overtime winner with a 1:30 left as the Jets beat the Canadiens 5-4.
Kyle Connor scored twice, Tyrell Bauer with his first NHL goal and Morgan Barron had the other tallies for the Jets who won for the first time since October 13.
"Yeah, we're gonna enjoy this one. You got to enjoy the wins in the National Hockey League, especially when you're on a streak like that. And we're gonna try to use this to catapult us and to build upon it," said Connor.
"And I thought we scored all those goals. But right from the puck drop, I thought we were really dialed in."
Montreal came out flying, forcing a couple of early saves from Stuart Skinner before opening the scoring at 3:05. Owen Beck was given far too much time and space to walk in and wire a shot over Skinner’s glove. It marked the 12th time in 16 games this season that the Jets have surrendered the game's first goal.
The Jets responded well to the opening goal and began to take control of the play, generating several quality chances. However, Jacob Fowler was up to the task, making a handful of excellent stops to keep Montreal's lead intact. Despite Winnipeg's push, it was the Canadiens who found the back of the net again. Josh Anderson cut across the slot and fired a seeing-eye backhand past Skinner at 18:18, sending Montreal into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.
The Jets found themselves in penalty trouble early in the second period, taking back-to-back penalties that gave Montreal a 1:15 two-man advantage. The Canadiens capitalized at the four-minute mark when Cole Caufield pounced on a Noah Dobson rebound and buried his first career goal against Winnipeg to make it 3-0. The goal continued a troubling trend for the Jets, who have now surrendered 10 power-play goals over their last five games.
That didn't deter the Jets, who continued to pour shots on Fowler throughout the remainder of the second period. However, the 21-year-old Canadiens netminder continued to come up with answers, turning aside all 19 shots he faced in the middle frame. It was Winnipeg's highest single-period shot total of the season, but Fowler kept the Jets off the scoreboard.
Montreal added to its lead just 46 seconds into the third period when Cole Caufield caught Skinner cheating away from the near post and snapped a shot under the crossbar for his second power-play goal of the night, putting the Canadiens up 4-0.
The Canadiens have had some difficulty closing out games this season, and that issue showed up again late in the third period. Despite holding a four-goal lead, Montreal suddenly found itself under pressure as the Jets made one final push.
It looked as though Winnipeg was finally going to solve Fowler late in the third when Cole Perfetti found himself staring at a wide-open net on the power play. However, his shot caught the post and somehow ended up in Fowler's glove, keeping the Jets off the scoreboard.
The breakthrough finally came in the final three minutes, and the Jets did it in a hurry. Tyrell Bauer scored his first NHL goal at 17:21 before Morgan Barron followed with a beauty at 18:03 to cut Montreal's lead to 4-2. Bauer picked up the assist on Barron's goal, completing the Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist and a fight. It was a memorable finish for the young defenceman and gave Winnipeg some much-needed life.
