Josh Anderson and Lane Hutson scored just over a minute apart in the second period, helping the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-1 road win over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
The all-Canadian matchup was the final test for each club prior to the NHL's Olympic break, with Winnipeg not returning to Canada Life Centre until March.
The Jets actually opened the scoring on Wednesday, with Kyle Connor blasting home a power play strike just 6:07 into the contest.
With Anderson in the box for high-sticking Nino Niederreiter, Gabe Vilardi found Connor across the ice, who one-timed the puck past Sam Montembault for the early 1-0 lead.
The goal cemented Connor's active streak of nine-straight seasons of 25 goals or more.
But Winnipeg's lead didn't last long.
Rookie Oliver Kapanen collected his 18th of the season with just over three-and-a-half minutes to go in the frame, bringing the Canadiens' majority crowd to its feet in celebration.
A span of just 76 seconds in the middle stanza sealed the Jets' fate, as Montreal pounced for two strikes to pull ahead 3-1 through 40 minutes of play.
First, it was Anderson, who redirected a Jayden Struble point shot perfectly past Hellebuyck 5:28 into the period. Then, it was Hutson's 10th of the season that gave Montreal its two goal lead.
The sophomore defender engaged in the rush up-ice and collected a poor Anderson pass. He had to turn around in order to corral the disc, but managed to get back on track towards the Jets' net and beat Hellebuyck high, short-side, making it 3-1, to which it would stand through the second period.
"It was those 1:30 where we gave up two goals there," head coach Scott Arniel reflected. "We talked about Montreal’s D being in the rush and gave up the one, there was a couple there where we got on the wrong side of people and they got in there with their speed game, which they do well. We did a good job of containing that but in the second period we allowed them to do that a few times. Like I said, in 1:30 it was a 3-1 hockey game."
Interestingly, it was Winnipeg that held a narrow 26-21 shot lead heading into the final frame.
“I do think it was one of our better games offensively, I would say," Niederreiter said. "I mean we definitely had a lot of good looks, just couldn't find a way to put them in.”
With Olympian Josh Morrissey in the box for slashing, the Canadiens found another goal - this one coming off an odd-man rush up-ice. Kirby Dach dished the puck cross-crease to Brenden Gallagher, whose sixth put the game out of reach for the home team.
Winnipeg pulled Hellebuyck for the extra attacker for nearly six minutes, and despite a Montreal penalty it was the Canadiens who scored the lone goal. Phil Danault potted Montreal's fifth tally of the game with 13 seconds to play, finishing off the Jets 5-1.
Hellebuyck made 22 stops on 26 shots faced on Wednesday, while Montembault turned aside 36 of the 37 pucks fired his way by the Jets.
"It's been a rollercoaster year so far," Niederreiter said. " I mean there's times where we played good hockey and there's times where we didn't play as well as we wanted to. It's definitely a good break for everyone, mentally, and we know what's at stake coming back.”
The Jets will now take the next three weeks off before returning with a three-game road trip through Vancouver, Anaheim and San Jose beginning on February 25th.
