The Montreal Canadiens couldn’t be hotter.
Conversely, the Winnipeg Jets couldn’t be colder.
The Canadiens will look to extend their win streak to six games and hand the Jets a 10th straight setback on Tuesday when the teams meet in Montreal.
Josh Anderson collected two goals and an assist in the Canadiens’ 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
Anderson was credited with his second goal after defenseman Lane Hutson’s shot from the point deflected both off Anderson’s body and then the leg of Penguins defenseman Kris Letang before settling into the net.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know I got it,” Anderson said. “I told Lane it was his. I didn’t feel anything. I was kind of surprised.”
Chris Kreider recorded a goal and an assist to extend Montreal’s point streak to seven games (6-0-1).
Jacob Fowler made 25 saves to join Carey Price (2007-08) and Jakub Dobes (2025-26) as the third Montreal rookie goaltender to cobble together a seven-game winning streak. Fowler has two shutouts, a 1.67 goals-against average and .941 save percentage during his win streak.
“Fantastic goaltending again,” Kreider said. “They had their pushes and he came up with some big saves, and we were able to get some big blocks too.”
Fowler also turned aside 33 shots in Montreal’s 2-1 victory in Winnipeg at the NHL Heritage Classic on Oct. 25.
Hutson scored a goal in that game and had two assists Saturday against the Penguins. He leads the team in assists (10) and points (13).
While things are going right for the Canadiens, the Jets are struggling to find answers.
Winnipeg fell to 0-7-2 since Oct. 15 following a 7-0 shellacking at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon. Stuart Skinner yielded five goals in his second straight start before being pulled at 9:09 of the second period.
“It’s pretty frustrating, pretty embarrassing as an organization,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “Just that second period, where we create the mistakes that we did that end up in the back of our net, is leaving our goalies out to dry. Whether that’s a stick battle, whether that’s a turnover, whether that’s knocking your own goalie over, those are things we need to do better.
“I’ve got to keep hammering home that you’ve got to defend first and foremost, you’ve got to compete first and foremost, then you have to execute first and foremost. If it doesn’t happen, we’ll get the results that happen (today).”
Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo piled on after the game.
“It’s tough, for sure. Yeah, just tough, tough across the board. I mean, you gotta dig in at the end of the day,” he said.
“Obviously not where we want to be and tonight was really, just a tough effort. No one’s gonna feel sorry for us and it’s not like we have time or anything to fix it. … We got to reset right away here and get ready for Tuesday in Montreal.”
Kyle Connor leads Winnipeg in goals (11) and points (15).
–Field Level Media
