DALLAS – The Winnipeg Jets had lost four straight to Dallas this year and were coming off a home loss on Tuesday night to the Stars. Moments before the pregame warm up they got the news that their captain Andrew Ladd had been traded to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Earlier in the day the team announced that center Bryan Little would miss the rest of the season with a fracture in his vertebrae.
This was crushing to a struggling team as they are losing two of their top scorers although the trade was not a shock but still emotional for the team to see good friend and captain leave. The Jets ground out a great effort and won 6-3 with a big third period.
Michael Hutchinson got the start for the Jets and he was sharp stopping 27 of 30 Dallas shots including a couple big saves off Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.
The Jets came storming out of the gates in the first scoring three goals before running into some penalty trouble in the second and giving up two power play goals .
They watched the Stars tie things up early in the third before scoring 3 straight to take the two points and avoid a season sweep.
Jets got goals from Blake Wheeler his 17th , Toby Enstrom his second, Joel Armia scored a pair his third and fourth, Mark Scheifele his 15th, and Jacob Trouba his fifth.
Jets got multi9point games from Armia , Scheifele , Trouba , Enstrom, and Nik Ehlers. They will need this from these players to pick up the slack for the loss of Ladd and Little.
Matt Halischuk was recalled from the Manitoba Moose earlier in the day and was dressed and in the lineup for Winnipeg.
The Jets also shipped Jay Harrison and Matt Fraser along with Ladd to the Blackhawks both players will report to AHL Rockford . The Jets received 2013 first round pick Marco Dano and the Hawks 2016 first round pick and a possible conditional pick if they win the Stanley Cup. Dano, who has been playing in Rockford, will join the Jets and should be in the line up on Saturday in Pittsburgh; he will be given a chance to show the Jets what he can do.
Jets fans will get a chance to see Ladd again as the Hawks will be in Winnipeg two more times before the end of the season.
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