Blackhawks stop slide against Jets
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Chicago Blackhawks exorcised some demons for the second time this week with a 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at the MTS Centre on Friday night.
The win stopped a four-game losing streak against Winnipeg this season and came just 48 hours after the Blackhawks defeated Minnesota 4-3 in overtime. That victory halted an eight-game losing streak to the Wild.
Corey Crawford stopped 28 shots in the Blackhawks net while Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 31 shots for the Jets as his personal four-game winning streak against Chicago also came to an end.
The Blackhawks opened the scoring at the 15:37 mark of the first period after Jets captain Blake Wheeler was stripped of the puck on a breakout. Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien also swiped at the puck but the Blackhawks kept it in at the blue line and center Artemi Panarin found sniper Patrick Kane by himself to the left of Hellebuyck. The reigning Hart Trophy winner snapped home his 18th of the season past a diving goaltender.
The Jets responded early in the second period when rookie Patrik Laine, who was benched for part of Tuesday's loss to Minnesota, fanned on a shot but then alertly passed the puck back to Toby Enstrom at the point. Corey Crawford stopped the ensuing slap shot but center Bryan Little jumped on the rebound for his 16th of the season at 1:43.
After his brief demotion, Laine was back on the Jets' top line with Little and left winger Nik Ehlers.
The Blackhawks regained the lead after some nifty stickhandling from Kane in the Jets' zone. He found Panarin for a one-timer from the point and the rebound landed right in front of center Artem Anisimov, who calmly deposited his 19th of the season behind Hellebuyck at 12:16.
The Jets nearly tied it up with two minutes to go in the period when Wheeler's deflected shot from the point trickled between Crawford's pads, but defenseman Brent Seabrook arrived in the nick of time to sweep it to safety.
Duncan Keith erased any suspense when his slap shot from the blueline beat Hellebuyck for his fifth of the season at 17:01 to give the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead. Marian Hossa added an empty-net goal with less than two minutes remaining.
Jets center Adam Lowry pulled the Jets to within two on the power play in a goal-mouth scramble in garbage time. It was his 10th of the season.
Panarin added a second empty-net goal with just 15 seconds left.
NOTES: Jets D Ben Chiarot was reinserted into the lineup after missing four weeks with a hand injury. His return meant a seat in the press box for D Mark Stuart. Joining him were RW Chris Thorburn and G Ondrej Pavelec. ... Scratches for the Blackhawks were RW Jordin Tootoo, LW Andrew Desjardins and D Gustav Forsling. ... The Jets have been short-handed 66 times in the third period this season, tops in the NHL. ... Three Chicago players are from Manitoba. Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith were born in Winnipeg while Tootoo was born in the northern outpost of Churchill. ... With three points against Minnesota on Wednesday night, Toews passed Jeremy Roenick for ninth in franchise history with 597 career points. ... Chicago TV broadcaster Eddie Olczyk played parts of five seasons for the first version of the Jets in the 1990s. One of his teammates for two seasons was Troy Murray, the analyst on Chicago radio broadcasts.