Canadiens open key trip on right foot, continue to show connected progress

It’s a moment Justin Barron won’t ever forget, with the game-winning goal flying off his stick in overtime to set the Montreal Canadiens off on the right foot of this first leg of what will be their longest and most pivotal road trip of the season.

It was the 22-year-old’s first overtime winner in the NHL, and he’d have never been looking at a chance to score it if not for a penalty to teammate Mike Matheson.

It was serendipitous that brother Morgan was on the other side of it. He tried to block Justin’s shot and missed, and he too would have never been in that position for the Winnipeg Jets had captain Adam Lowry not gone to the box for crosschecking Matheson on the previous sequence.

But that’s how it went, with both Barrons replacing their teammates on their respective special-team units and possibly both of them experiencing a moment that will forever be seared into their memories.

It will definitely be indelible for Justin, who told reporters at Canada Life Centre afterwards that he wasn’t rushing to send a bragging text into the family chat.

Talk about a bittersweet moment for the Barron parents, who were watching from the stands.

For as great of one as it was for Justin, it was also special for the Canadiens, who are now above .500 and just two points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

They earned this step closer to the playoff picture on this night. They fought hard in hostile territory, notching 26 hits and blocking 23 shots. They found a way to play together, to break through against one of the NHL’s stingiest teams — the Jets had gone seven straight games without surrendering more than two goals and were minutes away from making it a franchise-best eight — and, in the process, showed to what extent they’re growing.

It feels like every game the Canadiens have played since Martin St. Louis took over their bench in February of 2022 has served up key lessons, and it’s starting to finally feel like the learning is actually sinking in.

Not that there won’t be plenty more of it to do, but the progress that’s led the Canadiens to have collected at least a point in four of their last five games should seem obvious to anyone watching.

St. Louis, who’s sitting front row, sees and feels it.

“As a group, I feel like we’re locked in right now,” he said after this 3-2 win. “I really do feel that way. It’s the most organized that we’ve been since I’ve taken this job. And it takes time to build that [in] different parts of the game, and we’re able to expand on some of the details on some of the different concepts and different parts of the game that we want to address. I think we’re just evolving as a team…”

When asked how, St. Louis pointed to the Canadiens’ connectedness.

“I think we’re playing a five-man game offensively, defensively, with and without the puck,” he said.

While the overtime winner was scored at four-on-three, it still offered evidence of what St. Louis was talking about, with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield swapping positions — and passes — before Barron ripped home the winner.

There was plenty of connectedness in the way the Canadiens defended, too, as they limited the Jets’ rush chances and only broke twice on the type of dizzying offensive-zone sequences Winnipeg displays on a nightly basis.

When the Canadiens bent, Jake Allen kept them from breaking more.

But the Canadiens didn’t bend all that much, and they forced the Jets to be every bit as good in their end for portions of the game, leaving Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness crediting them for making this a challenging game.

Again, that connectedness St. Louis craves was the main reason.

It was no more apparent than on the first goal, scored by Josh Anderson in the second period. The play started with big No. 17 applying just the right amount of backpressure — and with Sean Monahan and David Savard providing safety valves to guard against an odd-man rush — to allow Matheson to hold the offensive blue line.

Together, Anderson and Matheson forced a turnover, and Matheson took advantage of it to play give-and-go with Jake Evans while Anderson made his way to the net to finish the play.

This was a good example of the type of team play that has driven the Canadiens over the past two weeks, and there have been many more.

If you look back through the last five games, there’s mounting evidence they’re evolving in this particular way.

It was stark in a shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins last week, and even clearer in Saturday’s win over the New York Islanders, when Anderson scored two goals that wouldn’t have been possible if not for plays all four of the players he was on the ice with made.

“I don’t think we’re a team where we have superstars,” St. Louis said after that game. “I think we’re going with the power of five on the ice together, and that’s what we’re trying to do on both sides of the puck. And I think when we play like that, I think we put ourselves in a really good spot to be successful.”

It’s what the Canadiens have been working on for close to two years, but something they — as one of the youngest and most inexperienced teams in the league — haven’t been able to execute with any modicum of consistency.

They had done it in spurts earlier this season, but rarely in consecutive games and never in more than two in a row.

Until now.

Barron’s goal cemented a performance that showed the Canadiens have taken a baby step forward.

Now it’s crucial they don’t take one or two back, with games against the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks leading them into the short holiday break before they resume this marathon trip that will take them to Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay and Dallas.