Copp, Little help Jets rally past Blackhawaks
CHICAGO -- Andrew Copp and Bryan Little scored 32 seconds apart late in the third period and the Winnipeg Jets rallied to record their fourth win of the season over the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-3 on Thursday night in the teams' final game before the All-Star break.
Copp's fourth goal in five games with 4:02 remaining tied the game at 3. Little followed quickly with his sixth goal in four games and one that withstood a video review.
Mark Scheifele added an empty-netter with 2:03 to play and Connor Hellebuyck had 37 saves for Winnipeg (22-26-4), which had dropped six of eight coming in.
Patrik Laine, playing in his second game after missing eight with a concussion, notched his 22nd goal leaving him one behind Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the rookie lead.
Scott Darling, who got the start in goal in goal after Corey Crawford allowed three third-period tallies in a loss on Tuesday, finished with 27 saves for Chicago (30-16-5).
Laine opened the scoring 6:16 into the contest with Chicago's Richard Panik off for goaltender interference. Laine took a pass from Bryan Little and ripped a shot from the right side of the slot past Darling.
Laine is the only Jets player scheduled to play Sunday in the All-Star Game at Los Angeles.
Winnipeg increased its lead just 42 seconds later. Jacob Trouba's blast from the left point into traffic was corralled by Shawn Matthias, who slid it past Darling for his seventh goal.
The Blackhawks, who were limited to two goals in three losses to Winnipeg this season, halved the deficit at 13:07 of the first period -- and only five seconds after Winnipeg's Nic Petan was called for hooking.
Artem Anisimov won the faceoff and got the puck to Brent Seabrook, who fed Duncan Keith with a cross-ice pass. Keith's shot from the top of the right circle got past a screened Hellebuyck for his fourth goal and second in as many games.
Chicago were 0 of 9 with the man advantage this season against the Jets before Keith's marker.
The Blackhawks knotted the score four minutes into the second period when Nick Schmaltz scored unassisted for his third goal. Schmaltz had been held without a point in his previous three games.
NOTES: Four Blackhawks -- RW Patrick Kane, C Jonathan Toews, D Duncan Keith and G Corey Crawford will head to Los Angeles for Sunday's All-Star game. ... Chicago D Niklas Hjalmarsson played in his 600th career game. ... Coming into play Thursday and with a minimum of 10 games played in January, Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane was third in the league with an average of 4.3 shots on goal per game. ... RW Jordin Tootoo, D Michal Rozsival and C Dennis Rasmussen were scratched for Chicago. ... Winnipeg's scratches were D Brian Strait, D Julian Melchiori and G Michael Hutchinson. ... Following the All-Star break, the NHL will resume play with 14 games on Tuesday. Chicago meets the San Jose Sharks in the opener of a six-game road trip, while Winnipeg continues its four-game swing against the St. Louis Blues.