Jacob Fowler made 34 saves for the Montreal Canadiens in a 2-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets in the Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg on Sunday evening.
Lane Hutson and fellow defenseman Kaiden Guhle scored, and Cole Caufield had two assists for Montreal in the NHL’s 46th outdoor game and 10th played in Canada.
Isak Rosen scored a late goal and Stuart Skinner made 19 saves for the Jets, who have lost five in a row (0-3-2).
After a scoreless first period, Hutson gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 7:19 of the second.
Caufield received a pass outside of the left circle, brought it along the blue line and then above the right circle, where he passed it to Noah Dobson cutting through the same circle.
Dobson got to the bottom of the circle and made a centering pass between two Montreal defenders to Hutson, who was cutting to the far post a step ahead of Canadiens forward Alex Iafallo, giving him room to redirect the puck into the net before Skinner could slide over.
Montreal extended its lead to 2-0 at 11:04 of the second.
Juraj Slafkovsky took a shot off a rush that was deflected wide. The puck came off the end boards to Caufield, who passed it back to Guhle at the left point. He flicked a one-timer that sailed through traffic and hit the net.
Winnipeg prevented Fowler’s second shutout of the season when Rosen scored with a one-timer on the shortside from the bottom of the right circle to cut it to 2-1 at 15:24 of the third period.
The Jets went on a power play with 1:32 left and soon after pulled Skinner for a 6-on-4, but couldn’t tie it.
Montreal forward Alex Newhook had the best scoring chance of the first period on a shorthanded breakaway, but was turned away by Skinner at 17:15.
Dawson Mercer made his Jets debut after he was acquired from the New Jersey Devils as part of Friday’s trade for goalie Connor Hellebuyck and the forward had two shots in 13:58.
