The Hockey News Pregame Show Gabriel Vilardi scored the game-tying goal, while Nikolaj Ehlers got the winner with 1:05 left in the third period, as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Chicago Blackhawks by way of a remarkable comeback at Canada Life Centre on Thursday. The Jets improved their franchise-record winning streak to eight games, while improving their points streak to 14-straight. They have also allowed just two goals against for 11 games and three or fewer in 31-straights. After trailing 1-0 all game, the Jets came out firing in the final 10 minutes, scoring twice in a span of 2:24 to get a momentous two points against the Central Division's Blackhawks. Continuing to be a thorn in the side of the Jets, Chicago and netminder Petr Mrazek seemed nearly destined to be the streak-snapper, but Winnipeg's late-game attack deemed to be too much to hold off, as the Jets capped off the come-from-behind victory in dramatic fashion. Neither team managed to find the twine in the opening frame, before Chicago found the first goal shortly into the second period. As a matter of fact, it was the third-straight game between the two clubs that the Blackhawks scored first. Winnipeg won the opening contest, before Connor Bedard scored the overtime winner in game No. 2. Unfortunately for Chicago, and the sellout crowd of 15,225 gathered at Canada Life Centre, Bedard was not in the lineup for Chicago on Thursday, as he continues to recover following surgery on a broken jaw suffered last week. With one Connor down, it was another Connor who got things going for the visitors on Thursday. It was Connor Murphy who put his second of the year past Brossoit through what appeared to be a heavy screen. The goal came just 4:19 into the frame, and actually served as the only marker from either club. The biggest piece of news, however, was that of the loss of forward Mark Scheifele to injury just moments into the period. The 30-year-old forward left he ice in discomfort after a non-contact play, before heading directly down the Jets' tunnel and into the room. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/winnipeg-jets/injury-report/winnipeg-jets-mark-scheifele-leaves-game-vs-chicago-with-lower-body-injury] The team ruled him out for the game shortly thereafter. Both the Jets and Hawks had opportunities on the power play in the middle stanza, but neither club could find buy a goal with the man advantage. Shots were an even 16-16 through 40 minutes of play, with Chicago leading 1-0 entering the third. After an onslaught of pressure, the Jets managed to finally knot things up, and the game-tying marker came off the stick of Vilardi. The play came as a result of a hard-working shift by Adam Lowry in the offensive zone. He won a puck battle and threw the puck in front to Vilardi, who calmly redirected it past Mrazek with just 3:29 play. The goal came on Winnipeg's 27th shot of the game, and was Vilardi's 10th of the season. Ehlers got the winner in what felt like just moments later. It was 2:24 to be exact, but to the fans downtown it probably wasn't even enough time to have sat back down following the Ehlers tally. Once again it was captain Lowry who setup the winner, as his feed hit Ehlers in stride, who walked in untouched and ripped the puck past Mrazek, before celebrating wildly along the end boards. Brossoit stood tall in net for the Jets, turning aside Chicago's late-game attack, and 20 of the 21 Blackhawks shots in the game. Mrazek made 26 stops on the 28 pucks fired his way by Winnipeg. Next up for the Jets is the continuation of the four-game homestand, with a Saturday night contest against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, before the New York Islanders roll into town on Tuesday. Saturday's game features a 6:00 PM central start time and can be viewed live on CITY TV.
