The Chicago Blackhawks came into Saturday night’s game riding high after an overtime win against fellow bottom dwellers, the Arizona Coyotes, the night before. Unfortunately, Chicago’s offense had a tough time beating Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck and fell to Winnipeg 4–1. Blackhawks forward Tyler Johnson was their only goal scorer after Winnipeg put up a three-spot in the second period and cruised to the win.
🏒 Petr Mrazek made the start in goal for the Blackhawks. Mrazek saved 24 of 27 shots faced, but really never had much of a chance to pull out a win. He did, however, have his mask knocked off with a first-period shot off the stick of Pierre-Luc Dubois and another in the second off the stick of Kyle Connor. Dubios and Mark Scheifele each had five shots on Mrazek in the game.
✈️ On the other end of the ice, Hellebuyck was his usual self, stopping 31 of 32 shots faced. Philipp Kurashev and Johnson matched Scheifele and Dubois, each having five shots on the Winnipeg netminder to lead the Blackhawks.
✈️ The Jets’ power play in the second period looked like a bunch of adults toying with children (Reese Johnson, Tyler Johnson, Bryan McCabe, Seth Jones) and ended up with a power play goal from Blake Wheeler, as you might expect. The Blackhawks killed off the other two power plays they faced, but one big failure is often too much for this team.
🏒 When the puck ends up in the back of the Blackhawks’ net, it seems like there are a lot of numbers in the 80s skating around with their heads either buried in their laces to looking at the ceiling. Caleb Jones is an adventure in his own end and Patrick Kane looked like he could not care less about supporting the puck up the wall on the Jets’ first goal.
✈️ Jets captain Blake Wheeler led all players with three points (two goals, one assist).
🏒 If the league is really looking to add Jake McCabe to their roster at the trade deadline, I hope they were not watching this game. He had a rough night, including turning the puck over which led to a third-period 2-on-0 that Mrazek bailed him out of.
For those watching the “tank index,” Chicago is currently ranked 31st overall with a .363 points percentage ahead of only the Columbus Blue Jackets (.340). The Blackhawks are off today and Monday but travel to Quebec to face another bottom-dwelling team, the Montreal Canadiens, on Tuesday. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. CST.