The Canadiens didn’t need Nick Suzuki on Sunday night to keep their momentum rolling.
Montreal beat Winnipeg 2-1 in the outdoor Heritage Classic at Princess Auto Stadium, giving the Canadiens a second straight win after also taking down Chicago. It’s still early - just two games - and nobody should rush to make grand declarations. But after the anxiety that followed Suzuki’s hand injury, Montreal has at least put together a response that looks sharp enough to notice.
Maybe the captain’s absence has pulled something extra out of the rest of the roster. Maybe the healthy players simply realized they have to raise their level. Whatever the reason, the Canadiens looked like a team that reached an early-season crossroads and decided not to drift off course.
That said, it’s worth keeping the whole picture in view. Montreal’s last two wins have come against Chicago and Winnipeg, and the Jets are not the kind of opponent that should trigger a parade route. So no Stanley Cup talk just yet.
Sunday’s game also came with the usual outdoor-game extras, starting with the weather. The temperature in Winnipeg was 3 C at puck drop, though it felt like 0 C. By the third period, it had dipped another degree, with wind chill sitting at -1.
“I feel like we were into the wind that period,” Winnipeg defenceman Dylan DeMelo said following the second period.
That kind of setup is exactly why football teams often want the wind at their backs in the fourth quarter after winning the coin toss.
The venue wasn’t exactly giving Winnipeg a classic home-ice edge, either. The Blue Bombers played at home this season in a building where they went 5-5, and they also picked up an extra home game against Toronto because the Argonauts were forced out of BMO Field during the World Cup. Without that, the Bombers would have finished with a losing record there.
And in a night of numbers, there was one more worth noting: Canada Life Centre holds 15,321, which is not much by NHL standards. Princess Auto Stadium drew 32,342 on Sunday.
In Other News...
Ducks Just Sent A Clear Early Message About Two Young Forwards
The goaltending chatter around Connor Hellebuyck never got far, but it still offered a glimpse at how Winnipeg views any major move involving its franchise netminder. Vegas made an inquiry, yet the Jets were never eager to send him to the West, and they wanted a goalie coming back in any deal. That combination is enough to explain why the conversation did not develop into something more serious, especially with the trade market for a top-tier goalie already so hard to navigate.
From Winnipegs standpoint, the list of potential partners only got thinner from there. Adin Hills no-trade protection limits the Golden Knights flexibility, and Carter Harts role as Vegas starter, along with his expiring contract, makes him a tricky fit in a deal of that magnitude. Meanwhile, the Jets will have Nino Niederreiter back in the lineup for the Heritage Classic after he recovered from a high-stick incident, giving them a more complete group for one of the seasons showcase games. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Skid Feels Worse After Another Flat Night In A Big Spot
The outdoor stage at Princess Auto Stadium offered Winnipeg a chance to steady itself and reset the tone of a season that has gone sideways in a hurry, but the result only deepened the unease. The Jets fell 2-1 to the Canadiens in the 2026 Heritage Classic, extending a losing streak to five games and leaving another big spot feeling like a missed opportunity.
Winnipeg finally broke its outdoor scoring drought on a late goal from Isak Rosen, but the lone push came too late to change the mood around a night that had already slipped away. The Jets also let four power play chances go by, a familiar kind of frustration when a team is searching for anything that can stop the slide. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Came Closer Than Fans Realized On Connor Hellebuyck
Connor Hellebuycks name was never just idle speculation around the league. According to Elliotte Friedman, several teams were in the mix on the Winnipeg goalie, including the Florida Panthers, Buffalo Sabres, Utah Mammoth and Carolina Hurricanes, with talks reaching a point where real frameworks were being discussed before they unraveled over timing, player-package issues and other moving parts.
For Winnipeg, the most interesting part is how close some of those conversations apparently came to mattering. Friedman said he does not have the full picture on every detail, but the market had enough traction that specific pieces started to become the real hurdles, from draft-pick complications with Buffalo to Carolinas unwillingness to part with certain key players. That is the sort of backdrop that reminds you how much noise can surround a star goalie before the trade window finally closes. [Read more 🡒]