WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets have at least a point in five consecutive games following a convincing win over the Western Conference leading Chicago Blackhawks. The Jets defeated the Hawks 4-0 on Tuesday at MTS Centre
Josh Morrissey scored his first career NHL goal and it turned out to be the game winner.
“To see it go in was something special.” Morrissey said. “It’s starting to sink in now, a little bit now that the game is over. During the game obviously it’s an exciting moment, but then you’re back to playing right away, but now it’s starting to sink in. It’s pretty special.”
Patrik Laine, Chris Thorburn and Nic Petan also scored in the win for the Jets.
“They’re a team that has been where we want to go.” said defenceman Jacob Trouba. “And we want to show we can play with the best guys in our division, and in our conference, so yeah, to be able to compete with them in a tight game for most of the game and then kind of open it up there at the end, yeah it’s big for our confidence.”
Nikolaj Ehlers had two assists and now has 16 points on the season, just five points behind Mark Scheifele for the league lead.
“This is Chicago we’re talking about.” said Ehlers. “They’ve always been a great team. But we went out there today with the mindset that we always do, we want to go out and win this game. And we had that mindset for the full 60 minutes and at the end we got the two points.”
Connor Hellbuyck recorded his first shutout of the season as he stopped all 27 shots he faced. And the Jets kept the Blackhawks potent powerplay in check with Chicago going 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
The Jets five game point streak matches last year’s season high point streak.
“The first period was a good solid period.” said head coach Paul Maurice. “A huge 5-on-3 penalty kill. I thought after our powerplay we stopped moving the puck through the neutral zone the way we needed to against that team. Came off our strength and kinda fed their strength for a little while, but got back to our game again in the third.”
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The Jets opened the scoring just past the six minute mark of the first period. Scheifele made a perfect setup for Morrissey and he hammered in the slapper for his first career NHL goal. Ehlers also picked up an assist to give the Jets the early upper hand.
Late in the period Morrissey leveled Vinnie Hinostroza with a huge hit near the blueline. Jonathan Toews immediately came to his defense but no punches were thrown. Morrissey received the only penalty on the play, a minor penalty for charging.
The Jets led by one goal after the first period despite getting outshot 8-6.
The two teams played a scoreless second period. A period where the Hawks led in shots 12-7. But the Jets still took a one goal lead to the third period.
Five minutes into the final frame, Thorburn from along the side boards, spun around and threw a shot on net. The puck found the top corner behind Corey Crawford and Thorburn looked as surprised as everyone else that he had scored. Paul Postma had the only assist on Thorburn’s first goal of the campaign.
The Jets extended their lead midway through the final stanza. Dustin Byfuglien carried the puck into the Hawks zone. He circled the net, and was denied on the wraparound. But the puck squirted right to Laine in the slot and he picked the top corner to give the Jets a three goal lead. Ehlers also grabbed an assist on Laine’s league leading 12th goal of the year.
Just as they were announcing the goal, Marko Dano sent a pass in front of the net for Petan. He fanned on his first attempt but buried the shot on the second chance. It was Petan’s first goal since getting called up from the Moose. The Jets scored goals just 11 seconds apart and the building was deafening with Winnipeg ahead by four goals. The Hawks replaced Crawford in goal with Scott Darling. But the Jets hung on for a 4-0 triumph.
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Trouba left the game briefly in the second period after taking a slap shot off his neck but he didn’t even miss a single shift and after the game said it was only a bump.
Chase De Leo was a healthy scratch after his recent recall from the Manitoba Moose. Bryan Little, Drew Stafford, Mathieu Perreault, Kyle Connor, Shawn Matthias, Joel Armia, Tyler Myers and Mark Stuart all sat out with injuries.
The Jets will go on the road for the next five games with the Philadelphia Flyers up next on Thursday.
WATCH: Winnipeg Jets Post Game Reaction
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