The Chicago Blackhawks took another loss, their third loss straight, against the Winnipeg Jets at the United Center on Friday, February 23rd. The Blackhawks played hard throughout the whole game, tying it at 2-2 with 43 seconds remaining in the third period to head into overtime. However, Kyle Connor scored just 25 seconds into overtime for the 3-2 final.
Jets lineup against the Blackhawks:
Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi
Perfetti – Monahan – Ehlers
Niederreiter – Lowry – Appleton
Barron – Namestnikov – Iafallo
Morrissey – DeMelo
Dillon Pionk
Samberg – Schmidt
Hellebuyck
Brossoit
Blackhawks lineup against the Jets:
Foligno – Bedard – Kurashev
Blackwell – Dickinson – Anderson
Beauvillier – Johnson – Raddysh
Donato – Entwistle – Johnson
Vlasic – Jones
Korchinski – Megna
Tinordi – Phillips
Mrazek
Soderblom
At 5:13 of the first period, Nikolaj Ehlers gave Winnipeg a 1-0 lead to end a 10-game drought. He took a pass from Dylan DeMelo at the red line and scored a wrist shot, putting it past Petr Mrazek’s right shoulder in the left face-off circle with a sharp angle.
Nikolaj Ehlers coast-to-coast with his second of the night and his 16th of the season. Ehlers extended the Jets’ lead to 2-0 early into the second period at 18:11 during a delayed penalty. He banked the puck off the right-wing boards to himself, moved into the defensive zone, and scored from the slot after gathering it from behind Winnipeg’s net, skating through the neutral zone. Getting Chicago on the board on a breakaway, Colin Blackwell took a pass from Seth Jones in the middle of the neutral zone and drove in on Connor Hellebuyck, scoring on the forehand glove side with 4:02 remaining in the middle frame.
In the whole third period, the score had stayed at 2-1 until only 43 seconds remaining, the Blackhawks pushed to tie it up… Tyler Johnson scored to make it a tie game 2-2 on a rebound. Winnipeg and Chicago went right into overtime to determine the game-winner.
Overtime did not last very long because only 25 seconds in, Kyle Connor shot from the right face-off circle, and the puck deflected off Nick Foligno’s skate for the 3-2 final. The Jets have won two games straight since their three-game streak ended when they played against the Calgary Flames on February 19th.
Tyler Johnson on how the team played and the overtime loss: “I think we saw what works. I think when you play a north-south game, a predictable game, you get pucks to the net and you get retrievals… That’s how you win games in this league. I think when you try to play too fancy, too cute, and you turn the puck over, teams like Winnipeg and other teams, they make you pay. I thought for the most part, we played a pretty solid game. I think we got away from it occasionally but if you want to say that’s a stepping stone of learning that we have to play a direct game, sure.”
Seth Jones on the game and the 3-2 loss: “We did a lot of good things I thought. We got through some of their big momentum swings when they had a lot of time and we were able to get through it, and Mrazek made some big saves. Then we added some sustained O-zone time as well. We were able to get pucks to the net. I think our forwards did a great job in getting pucks in low to high and getting it out of pressure and the D were shooting tonight, I thought a lot more than then we have been in the past.”
Notes:
– Colin Blackwell has recorded two goals in his last two games… Seth Jones recorded a pair of assists, his third two-assist game of the season.
– Tyler Johnson’s game-tying goal was the 11th of the season for him and the third in the last six games. He has four points in his last three games.
– Chicago’s offense put 35 shots on goal, the most in a game since January 13th against the Dallas Stars.
– Petr Mrazek made 28 saves for Chicago, and Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves for Winnipeg.
– Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice, and Josh Morrissey recorded three assists.
ITR 44: We Have A Champion…Again – Inside The Rink
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