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A game in an outdoor arena couldn’t turn around the Winnipeg Jets’ fortunes.
The Jets dropped their fifth straight game with a 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the Heritage Classic on Sunday at Princess Auto Stadium.
The Jets nearly stalled again at the Heritage Classic as they needed more than 55 minutes to score after being beaten by the Edmonton Oilers in the last outdoor game in Winnipeg in 2016.
After a scoreless first half, the Habs scored less than four minutes apart in the second half and held on for the win.
“I thought we got better as the game went on,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said. “I think we started a little slow. Of course the third half was our best period. Their goalkeeping was very good.
“Probably the biggest thing for me, we didn’t have enough traffic on (Jacob) Fowler. We didn’t make it a little harder to find pucks and that’s just something we have to make sure we do a better job of.”
The Jets outscored the Canadiens in all three periods, but Fowler made 33 stops as the 21-year-old became the youngest goaltender in NHL history to start a game outdoors.
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The Jets are now on a five-goal losing streak.
“We looked at the play and there were areas we had to clean up,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said. “I think along the way, there have been some games that we didn’t like, but there was one thing that made the difference, whether it was a penalty shootout or some of the battles in the D zone. They were tight games with one goal and it was about finding a way to get on the right side.”
Isak Rosen scored the only marker for the Jets while Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle scored for Montreal.
Elias Salomonsson got just over 17 minutes of ice time in his season debut after starting the campaign on the injured list following off-season shoulder surgery. And Dawson Mercer made his Jets debut after being acquired on Friday in the Connor Hellebuyck trade. He started on the third line but also spent some time on the second line in the final period.
“It was a pretty cool experience,” Mercer said. “It’s certainly a worse situation, but honestly, it’s a very special situation that I’ll definitely cherish. Of course, the result wasn’t what we wanted, but overall, it’s great to be able to work straight away with the guys and then take it from here.”
Winnipeg has scored just six goals over their last four games on the power play now 0-for-12 over the stretch.
The Jets’ top line made eight of their first 10 shots on goal.
“We need other people to take action,” Arniel said. “It’s going to be tough if all the pressure is on Schife’s (Mark Scheifele) defense to try to do that. It’s part of the mindset of our players that, like I just talked about, you have to score goals. You have to score tough goals, some that bounce off your skate or your feet or your back, whatever it is.”
The Jets beat them 34-21 as Stuart Skinner made 19 stops in the loss.
With the Hellebuyck trade and the Heritage Classic behind them, the Jets will be looking for a fresh start when they host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
