Jets Pick Up Overtime Victory in Chicago

The Winnipeg Jets travelled to the Windy City for a one-off road test against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night. 

After being unsure of his availability for the majority of the week as he was dealing with a re-aggravated lingering injury, Nikolaj Ehlers not only played, but he stole the show from the Madhouse on Madison.

The Danish Dash scored twice, including the first two goals of the game, Josh Morrissey picked up three helpers, while Kyle Connor got the overtime winner as the Jets picked up two points in the Central Division showdown, helping improve their record to 35-15-5 on the year.

After Vlad Namestnikov came within half an inch of the game-opener, Ehlers got things going on a strong individual effort. Skating the length of the ice, the speedy winger carried the puck into the Blackhawks' zone before ripping it top-shelf from in-tight, giving Winnipeg a 1-0 lead with 5:13 left in the first.

Although taking the 1-0 lead into the dressing room the Jets actually trailed Chicago 11-8 on the shot chart, but they quickly took care of that in the middle stanza. 

Once again leading the charge was Ehlers. And for the second time, he scored a beauty off a rush play up ice. 

With Connor Hellebuyck on the bench during a delayed Blackhawks penalty, Ehlers picked up the puck from Morrissey behind the net, carried it through the neutral zone, banked it off the boards, picked it back up, cut to the middle of the offensive zone, flipped the puck up in the air to himself and then fired it past Petr Mrazek as it landed back on the ice, doubling the Jets' lead just 1:49 into the frame. 

"I tried to build a lot of speed and at first, you just try to get into the zone," Ehlers said postgame. "And after that I saw an opening and thought I could sneak through and maybe get a good shot off."

The second period tally marked Ehlers' 18th goal of the season and third multi-goal outing on the year. 

"He's a super talented guy, obviously," Morrissey said of the goal scorer after the second period. "We've seen that for a long time now, and off the rush he's dangerous. We see it in practice against him, which sucks. His ability to create speed and his talent level is insane."

But before the period came to a close it was Chicago that got one back. Colin Blackwell made a strong defensive read, leading to a breakaway marker cutting Winnipeg's lead in half with four minutes left in the period. 

Sean Monahan was stopped by Mrazek once in the final seconds of the second and yet again in the early stages of the third, as the Hawks' goaltender kept his team in the game. 

Mrazak also shut down Gabe Vilardi on a slick move on a breakaway earlier in the second period.

But with just 42 seconds remaining and Mrazek on the bench for the extra attacker, Tyler Johnson tied the game for Chicago, finishing off a cross-ice play from Jason Dickinson and Seth Jones that caught Hellebuyck in no-man's land. 

Johnson's 12th was the Blackhawks' 34th shot of the game, to which they pulled back ahead after Winnipeg took the lead in the second period. 

With the late-game goal, the Blackhawks and Jets headed to overtime for the second-straight time in Chicago, after Connor Bedard finished things off back in late-December. 

This time, it was a different Connor who got the last laugh.

Morrissey picked up his third assist of the game, as he dished the puck to Kyle Connor, who carried it the length of the ice before putting it past Mrazek off a bank play, winning it for Winnipeg just 25 seconds into bonus time. 

“They had a little bit of a break in the neutral zone, a good play by Josh Morrissey to kind of break that up," Connor said of the goal. "I was trying to hit him back door there and it just went off his skates, so sometimes you’ve got to be lucky to get a couple there.”

After going three-straight games with two power play goals, the Jets' offensive special team fell silent on the night, going scoreless on the night.  

Despite taking heavy contact to his head on an illegal check by Taylor Raddysh, Hellebuyck stayed in the game and finished with 33 stops on the 35 shots he faced. Mrazek, who has been a known Jets killer this season, picked up 28 stops on the 31 Jets pucks that were fired his way.

“Well, their goaltending has been great," head coach Rick Bowness said. "They play very hard against us. Home ice, Luke was getting the matchups he wanted. So that’s fine, we expect our guys to play through that no matter what. But give their team a lot of credit, their coaching staff. They do a great job, they’re ready to play against us and they give us a hard time. And when we get opportunities Mrazek was making a lot of big saves again tonight.”

The win was Winnipeg's fifth in its last six games and has the team up to 35 victories on the year. The Jets improved to 23-3-1 when scoring first this season.

Next up for Winnipeg is two-game home set with fellow Central Division opponents Arizona and St. Louis on Sunday and Tuesday. Both game can be found on TSN.