Blackhawks Melt Down Up 4-0, Lose 5-4 To Jets In Shootout

CHICAGO - Since their horrific road trip through the southeastern United States ended, the Chicago Blackhawks have been making all sorts of changes on and off the ice. When they took on the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, it was assumed that there would be a much better effort. 

The Blackhawks ended up winning that match 3-2 in overtime after entering the third period down a goal. There is a lot of time left for them to keep working on their game, but it's not going to happen overnight. 

On Saturday, the Winnipeg Jets were in town for a daytime match against the Blackhawks. Winners of 5 straight games following a stretch of 8 losses out of 9, the Jets are a difficult team to predict. 

The game's opening period went about as well as the Blackhawks could have hoped. The play was rather even, but the Blackhawks held a 3-0 lead at the first intermission. Their first goal came after Connor Bedard's nice zone entry led to Oliver Moore making a perfect pass to Tyler Bertuzzi, who made a nice move and shot to score. 

Their second goal was the result of hard work on the forecheck by Ryan Donato. He allowed the puck to find Teuvo Teravainen, who made a great centering pass for Anton Frondell to tip into the net. 

Late in the period, the Blackhawks were given a power play, and they took advantage. Patrick Kane won a puck battle behind the net and then fed Connor Bedard for a one-timer, and he beat Stuart Skinner. 

In the second period, the Blackhawks made it 4-0 at 14:44 when Frank Nazar tipped home a Teuvo Teravainen shot on the power play. From there, the Hawks appeared to be in control of the game. 

Nothing is certain in the NHL, and Winnipeg planted the seed of doubt before the middle frame was over. Mark Scheifele got the Jets on the board after putting one in the net off a great feed from Josh Morrissey. On that goal, Scheifele became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Winnipeg Jets with 930 career points. 

While the Blackhawks were announcing the goal and congratulating Scheifele on that accomplishment, he made it 931 by assisting on a goal scored by Kyle Connor. Spencer Knight went to play the puck behind the net, and his stick got caught in the boards. Scheifele took advantage of the situation and fed the puck in front to Connor, who beat Knight back to the net. 

The 4-2 lead in favor of Chicago made it back to the locker room for the second intermission. Going into the third period, the Blackhawks knew they were going to get an intense push from the Jets. 

Early in the final frame, the Jets found themselves on the power play 20 seconds in. Cole Perfetti scored to get them within 1. At that point, the Blackhawks were in trouble as the Jets came all the way back to make it a hockey game. 

With the extra attacker, the Jets found a way to tie the game. It felt like it was coming in the moments leading up to it, and they did. Nobody scored in overtime, and the Jets won in the shootout to complete the comeback. 

That will go down as one of Chicago's most disappointing losses of the season, which is saying something for a team that's now 5-13-2. It wasn't the standard meltdown, as some fluky plays led to the Jets getting it tied up, but not closing out a game when they were up 4-0 is a meltdown nonetheless - a step backwards after taking the slightest step forward. 

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What’s Next For The Blackhawks?

The Chicago Blackhawks will be back at home on Tuesday night. It is their final Centennial Celebration, which will take place against the Toronto Maple Leafs. This game will be played on the 100th anniversary of their first game in franchise history, which was against the Toronto St. Pats on November 17th, 1926. 

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