In Chicago, the Winnipeg Jets opened up the throttle on Sunday, the backwash wiped away the Blackhawks in a 7-2 win.
Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves in the Jets win.
Winnipeg improved to 13-6-1.
For Chicago, it was their seventh straight loss, 0-6-1, and they dropped to 6-11-4.
The team held a closed door meeting, a long one after the game.
“I’m never going to get into the specifics about what’s being said in the locker room,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “But all in all, yeah, I think we all agree that as a group we need to be more mentally prepared, even if there’s nights where, it’s a long season and sometimes you don’t have the energy and you don’t have it. You’ve just got to find ways to play a better team game and keep yourself in games, and sometimes when you work to do that, things start going your way, you get a couple goals, and all of a sudden it gives you that little burst of energy that you’re looking for.
“We just kind of fed into what [the Jets] want to do as a team, and we got away from our team game today, so it’s all those little details aside from just our preparation and making sure we’re getting each other ready to go and playing the right way so that we can go out there and give ourselves a chance to create the results we want.”
The game started quietly enough with Jansen Harkins scoring in the first period for a 1-0 lead to the Jets.
It was the middle frame that got out of hand for the Blackhawks.
Saku Maenalanen scored the first of his double on the night early in the second to make it 2+-0 for Winnipeg.
“We had some good goals, some timely goals,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said. “We did a lot of good things out there tonight. Every line scored, so that’s nice to see. We need some goals from that bottom six, and we’ve been getting them.”
Taylor Raddysh got the Hawks back within one at 2-1.
Kyle Connor and Maenalanen scored before the midway point of the second to make it 4-1.
“We’ve seen him do that a few times,” Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “He has a nice shot. He’s been playing really well for us. He’s been a surprise this year for a lot of people. We saw him from training camp, what he could do for this team and what he can bring to the table. Offensively, to start the year, maybe it wasn’t there, but everybody in this dressing room and the coaching staff knew he was to us. It’s good to see that pay off tonight.”
Chicago replied with a power play marker from Jujhar Khaira to cut the deficit to two.
Winnipeg had an answer to that goal with a strike from Mark Scheifele for a 5-2 lead headed to the third period.
Dubois hit for a double in the third period, once off the power play, for Winnipeg.
“It just kept rolling,” Dubois said. “If you want to be successful team in this League, the only way to 
do it throughout the 82-game season is like that, where everybody contributes. Some nights, some lines might contribute more offensively or defensively, but for it to be sustainable, that’s how it’s going to have to look this year. We did a good job tonight.”
Petr Mrazek made 37 saves in the Hawks loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.