Jets look to build on lessons learned in Heritage Classic loss

WINNIPEG – The loss stung for the Winnipeg Jets.

Skating off the ice at Princess Auto Stadium at the end of the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic was not easy after a 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.

It was not what they dreamt about after falling asleep Saturday. It’s the fifth straight one-goal loss for a team that is desperate for a bounce, hungry for more goals and craving a ray of sunshine like the ones that bathed the sold-out stadium at the start of the game.

Yet, what they had gone through for the past few hours blunted some of the pain, at least in the immediate aftermath. 

“It was a spectacular spectacle,” Winnipeg captain Adam Lowry said. “It takes you back to youth hockey. It takes you back to growing up when you fell in love with the game. Obviously, a disappointing result, but I thought the NHL and Winnipeg fans did a great job making it another great event.”

Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel, like every coach mired in a losing streak, is consumed with the search for answers, for the road map away from the misery his team has found.

But even he was taken aback by the beauty of what unfolded before the start of the game. 

The Jets walked into the stadium in “Top Gun”-themed outfits, the fans howling for them, trying to high-five them, chanting “Go Jets Go.” Many of the players went out onto the outskirts around the ice and warmed up playing soccer or throwing footballs around, a nod to be in the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.

After the anthem and a fly-past from two CF-18 Hornets jets and CC-130H Hercules plane from the Royal Canadian Air Force, the two teams got to business.

“I mean, the atmosphere was amazing,” Arniel said. “The chants, the Habs chants and then the Jets chants, we can hear it, we can see it. I know the wave was going on (in the stands).

“Myself, personally, I told my grandkids to be ready for the flyover and I'm sure that's all they're going to talk about is the jets. But what an amazing atmosphere just to be out there.”

Nobody scored in the first period. Montreal got two goals from defensemen – Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle – in the second and then held on in the third.

Winnipeg third-line forward Isak Rosen scored a one-timer goal, off a pass from Gabriel Vilardi with 4:36 left to make it 2-1. Montreal goalie Jacob Fowler had stopped the first 30 shots he faced.

Shortly after, Viggo Bjorck almost scored on a wrap-around, but Guhle played goalie and made a stop with his knee in the crease.  With 92 seconds left in the game, Montreal forward Josh Anderson was penalized for tripping Mark Scheifele.

Winnipeg pulled goalie Stuart Skinner and played the rest of the game with a 6-on-4 advantage but did not manage a shot on goal.  

“It’s about finding a way to be on the right side of those,” Lowry said. “Whether it’s that lull we had in the second period where we found ourselves giving up two (goals). We just got to find a way to work ourselves out of that.”

Winnipeg forward Dawson Mercer, playing in his first game with the club, is expected to be part of that solution. 

The two-way, multiposition forward was the crown jewel in the trade on Friday that sent franchise goalie Connor Hellebuyck to the New Jersey Devils and ended the soap opera that had consumed the Jets throughout the offseason and the first three weeks of the regular season.

Mercer certainly had a memorable first game.

Somehow, the club had a “Top Gun” outfit for him at the ready, so he took part in the red-carpet entrance with the team. During the team introductions, Mercer was given a special shoutout by the public address announcer.

“It kind of caught me off guard when I got introduced when I was walking out there, so that was pretty good to get that welcome,” Mercer said.

He played 15:22 with two shots on goal and blocked a shot and made a good impression on his coach and teammates. Not bad for a player that had one semi-formal practice outdoors with the team on Saturday and some video sessions Sunday. 

“It was a pretty cool experience,” Mercer said. “Definitely a weird situation to be thrown into but honestly a pretty special one that I’ll cherish. 

“Obviously, the outcome is not what we wanted, but overall nice to get going with the guys right away and then build off it from here.”

For Arniel, that is the goal, for the Jets to build and move forward. 

The Florida Panthers come calling here Tuesday and Arniel wants his team to put the weekend in the rear-view mirror, forget about the Hellebuyck rollercoaster and get to the game they showed at the start of the season. 

“Obviously yesterday and today are great memories,” the coach said. “The ‘Helle’ part, that's the one where there's closure. I'm really glad I'm giving the guys a day off tomorrow. I'm really glad Monday's coming and we can just start fresh and go about our work toward what's coming on Tuesday and then our road trip. There's been a lot on our guys.

“Now I just want to go forward. I just want to worry about the rest of the season. Now we can. This was a fantastic weekend, but now I just want to go. Let's get back to normal hockey.”