Montreal Canadiens vs. Winnipeg Jets game day

Tonight, on the final Jets game day before the Olympic break, the Jets will host the Montreal Canadiens. The 2025-26 NHL season will pause from February 6th to the 24th for the Winter Olympics, as NHL players return to the games for the first time since 2014. The Jets lost in Dallas against the Stars in overtime 4-3 on Monday. It was an overall strong performance from the Jets, who battled to tie the game late, but the Stars won it in the extra frame.

Tonight, the Jets battle against a team that is 5-3-2 in their last 10 games and is comfortably in a playoff spot. The Jets sit 9 points back of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. The now 28th overall 22-25-8 Winnipeg Jets and 8th overall 31-17-8 Canadiens will clash at Canada Life Centre, with these two teams looking for a win to end a busy stretch of games. After tonight, the Jets are off for the three week Olympic break, and will return to action on February 25th against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Jets and Canadiens met once fairly recently this regular season. The season series started two months ago in Montreal, where the Canadiens squeaked out a 3-2 shootout win. These two teams have been fairly evenly matched in their recent matchups, with the Jets having a 5-2-3 record in the last 10 games against the Canadiens. With a win tonight the Jets would tie the season series 1-1 against this Atlantic Division team who is securely in a playoff spot and is looking to climb the standings during the upcoming playoff push.

The injury report for the Winnipeg Jets still has three names: Haydn Fleury has an upper body injury, Neal Pionk has a lower body injury, and Colin Miller underwent knee surgery recently, and they’re all listed as “week-to-week”. Further updates on their statuses will come closer to the end of the Olympic break. The Canadiens injury report has been slowly diminishing, with just three names on the list. Alex Newhook has an ankle injury, and Patrik Laine has an abdomen injury. Both of these injuries will keep these players out “long term”, likely till early-middle March. Alexandre Texier has a lower body and is listed as “day-to-day”, so the Canadiens will likely let Texier rest as he will be off to the Olympics to represent Team France.

Jets Projected Lineup 

Connor – Scheifele – Nyquist

Perfetti – Lowry – Vilardi

Niederreiter – Toews – Namestnikov

Koepke – Barron – Iafallo

Morrissey – DeMelo

Samberg – Salomonsson

Stanley – Schenn

Hellebuyck

Comrie

The unconfirmed starting goalie is Connor Hellebuyck, as Hellebuyck will get a final start before he goes off to the Olympics in Italy. After Hellebuyck’s most recent start, he now holds a 13-15-7 record with a 2.75 GAA and a .901 SV%. The Jets lineup is set to be mostly unchanged from their last game, as it seems that the latest changes they made last game will remain the same for the last game before the Olympic break. As usual, there could be some announced lineup changes by the Jets prior to the game, so make sure to stay tuned to the Jets official X/Twitter account for any late lineup additions or changes prior to puck drop.

Canadiens Projected Lineup

Caufield – Suzuki – Dach

Slafkovsky – Kapanen – Demidov

Veleno – Evans – Bolduc

Anderson – Danault – Gallagher

Hutson – Dobson

Matheson – Guhle

Xhekaj – Carrier

Dobes

Montembault

The Canadiens lineup is mostly healthy, featuring several underrated players and some young stars making their mark this season. Looking at the Canadiens’ player stats through 56 games, Nick Suzuki continues to lead the way with 65 points. Jakub Dobes is the unconfirmed starting goalie, who continues to share the net with Samuel Montembeault. Dobes continues to be a very solid starting “1B” option alongside Montembeault, and Dobes now holds a 18-5-4 record with a 2.96 GAA, 0 shutouts and a .891 SV%.

Jets player to watch: Mark Scheifele

Tonight the player to watch from each team will be the leading point scorer from these two Canadian teams. Mark Scheifele continues to be on a roll despite not being selected for Team Canada, and he leads the Jets with 6 points in the last 5 games. Scheifele’s consistency hasn’t been talked about nearly enough this season around the league, as he continues to produce on a nightly basis. In 55 games, Scheifele has 27 goals and 40 assists for 67 points. Scheifele might not have made Team Canada, but if he’s on their radar as an injury replacement, you know that Scheifele will be ready for the opportunity should that arise.

Canadiens player to watch: Nick Suzuki

After a fantastic career high 89 points last season, Nick Suzuki is once again producing points at a great rate on this talented and youthful Canadiens roster. Suzuki’s career high in goals is 33 back in 2023-24, and although he’s not quite on pace to surpass that total this season, he’s still on pace to have another point per game season. In 56 games this season, Suzuki has 18 goals and 47 assists for 65 points, with 8 points in the last 5 games. The Jets will need to watch out for Suzuki early and often, who enjoys showcasing his playmaking abilities alongside Olympic snub Cole Caufield, who leads the Canadiens with 32 goals this season.

Puck drop in Winnipeg, Manitoba is set for just after 6:00 pm CST. Tonight’s game will be the last time the Jets will be in action for three weeks, so they’d love to go into the break with a win against this Canadian opponent. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for a recap of the action, as the Jets look to defeat “Les Canadiens” on this Thursday night at Canada Life Centre.

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