Bedard-Less Blackhawks Almost Cool Jets, But Fall 2-1 on Late Goals by Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabe Vilardi.

Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabe Vilardi scored goals 2:24 apart late in the third period, and the Winnipeg Jets finally broke free from Chicago's tight checking to beat the Blackhawks 2-1 on Thursday at the Canada Life Centre for their eighth straight win.

Vilardi tied it at 1 with 3:29 left in regulation. Open at the right edge of the crease, he tapped in Adam Lowry's feed from the left corner after slipping free from coverage by Chicago defensemen Jarred Tinordi and Connor Murphy.

Skating in with speed, Ehlers beat Petr Mrazek under the glove with a shot from the slot with 1:05 remaining to win it.

"They just wanted it a little bit more than us at the in end of the game and we couldn't contain them and hold them," Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. "Unfortunately we just gave them too much at the end." See video.

The Jets had to work for this late victory and improve to 60 points, tops in the NHL.

Depleted Chicago got a second-period goal from Connor Murphy and 26 saves from Mrazek. 

The Blackhawks limited Winnipeg's speed and space in grinding out a third straight workmanlike effort. But Chicago dropped its second straight 2-1 decision to one of the NHL's swifter teams, following a home defeat to Edmonton on Tuesday.

"Leading up to that late part of the third, I think we did play hard and stay consistent," Murphy said. "Any team's gonna' pour it on you at the end if you're trying to defend the lead and you gotta' know how to play. And we clearly didn't show we know how to play with it."

Winnipeg hasn't lost since a 2-1 setback in overtime at the United Center on Dec. 27, when the Blackhawks got two goals from rookie Connor Bedard.

Those were the last two scores from the 18-year-old Bedard before he suffered a broken jaw on Jan. 5 that's sidelined him for six to eight weeks.

In Winnipeg on Thursday, the Blackhawks also still were without top defenseman Seth Jones (shoulder), as well as forwards Nick Foligno (broken finger), Anthony Beauvillier (left wrist), Tyler Johnson (right foot) and Andreas Athanasiou (groin). 

Murphy fired in his second goal of the season at 4:19 of the second to open the scoring. After taking a pass from Lukas Reichel, Murphy pinched in from the right point and fired a shot through traffic and past Laurent Brossoit.

Mrazek was alert throughout the contest— and sensational at times — as he came within minutes of his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career. He robbed Vilardi with a glove save late in first and Vladislav Namestnikov in the third about a minute before Vilardi tied it.

"We skated hard,"Richardson said. "I think we just backed off in the last five minutes and the other team was desperate and got two good chances."