Habs Spoil Jets Return With 5-1 Win

It was the biggest night in recent Winnipeg sports history as well as for Canadian hockey in a long time.

But the most storied franchise in hockey history came out with the win.

Mike Cammalleri opened the scoring for Montreal with his first of the season at 3:05 of the first frame.

Tomas Plekanec made it 2-0 with the lone tally in the second period.

Nikolai Antropov would score the first goal in new Winnipeg Jets history when he knocked home a loose puck in a goal-mouth scramble in front of Carey Price 2:27 into the third period to narrow the score to 2-1.

However, Yannick Weber restored Montreal's two goal lead on a 5-on-3 powerplay goal at 4:51 and Travis Moen and Max Pacioretty added the insurance as the Jets fell 5-1 to the Canadiens to set their record at 0-1 to start the season.

Despite the loss, the 15,004 at the MTS Centre Sunday afternoon gave the home team a standing ovation during the final minute of the game and as they made their way off the ice without a salute.

The Jets outshot the Canadiens by a 31-22 margin; if it were not for Carey Price the game may have been different for the Jets as they were not able to get enough traffic in front of the Habs netminder.

Tobias Enstrom led in ice time for the Jets, playing 25:23, while Zach Bogosian played 22:58, and Dustin Byfuglien 21:26.

Rookie Mark Scheifele logged 13:44 of ice time while centering Kyle Wellwood and Evander Kane on the Jets second line.

The line of Antropov-Alexander Burmistrov-Brett MacLean ended the game with an even rating despite scoring the Jets lone goal.

Byfuglien and Kane led the Jets with four shots a piece.

Johnny Oduya finished the night as a -3, while Bryan Little, Jim Slater, Blake Wheeler, and Byfuglien finished the night with -2 ratings.

Despite outshooting the Canadiens 14-6 in the third period, the Jets were outscored 3-1.

The Jets now go on the road to face the 2010 Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday and then travel to Phoenix to meet the former Jets on Saturday.

Next home game is Monday, October 17th when the Sidney Crosby-less Pittsburgh Penguins invade the MTS Centre.