One game after posting eight goals in Calgary, the Chicago Blackhawks were wishing they had saved a few of those for Sunday night in Winnipeg. 
The Jets’ Nathan Beaulieu struck for his first goal of the season early in the third period and handed the Hawks a 3-2 loss.
“Obviously it wasn’t the prettiest goal I’ve ever scored, but it was a big one,” Beaulieu said. “That [game] was a grinder for us. We knew how important that win was for us, just the points in the standings. It wasn’t our best game, but you’ve got to win those games at important, key times.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves for the Jets.
Ryan Carpenter and Patrick Kane were the Chicago strikers.
“I thought overall we played pretty hard,” Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton said. “It was a pretty even game. Ultimately, I think the difference was they scored three goals on point shots, got traffic and gave themselves a chance to get a bounce. We had our chances to tie it up, but we need to find a way to generate some of those goals ourselves, especially in these types of games that are going to be this tight.”
The NHL’s newest crop of coaches don’t seem to be watching the same games as the rest of the league.
Mason Appleton and Jack Roslovic also scored for the Jets.
“They collapsed so low that we had points open,” Jets forward Blake Wheeler said. “On the first two goals, especially, we got some guys to the net and got some tips on it.”
The Jets have moved to within one point of the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
“It’s just a matter of getting pucks to the point and then getting bodies to the net and around the net,” Appleton said. “Our first two goals were virtually the same exact picture; third goal was another point shot. It’s just a matter of how they defend, how we get pucks up to the point and how we get them through.”
The Hawks are 1-4-2 in their seven.
“No question, disappointing to not have more points from the trip,” Colliton said. “Ultimately, we had three games that were acceptable and two that weren’t good enough. We need more than that to get the points we need, so we’ll have a couple days to regroup, get some practice in and we need to obviously establish that we’re going to get some points at home. We’ve got a lot of home games the rest of the way.”
[WATCH: All Blackhawks vs. Jets highlights]
Corey Crawford made 35 saves in the loss.
“I thought [Crawford] played great for us,” Kane said. “Made some big saves. Kind of an unfortunate goal at the end there for them, but I still think we had some chances at the end to tie it up.”
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