There are not a lot of certainties in life, but over the last seven years, death and taxes have nearly been joined by the Winnipeg Jets whenever they face the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Jets continued their mastery of the once-dynastic franchise Thursday night at Canada Life Centre with a 6-3 win that extended their win streak over the Hawks to six games. Dating back to April 2018 the Jets improved their record against Chicago to 21-3-1 in their last 25 meetings.
Gabriel Vilardi scored a pair in the win and the trio on the Jets top line all had three points as the Jets made it back-to-back wins in what was their most complete, 60-minute effort of the season.
“That’s more of what we need to do,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “I don’t know if there is ever a perfect 60, but that was one of our best of the year.”
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The Jets inconsistent play and poor second periods left Arniel frustrated on the weekend, but on this night, the Jets scored twice in the middle stanza and outshot the Hawks 11-7 in the period.
“There’s always things to clean up,” Josh Morrissey said. “But there’s a lot to build on. There’s been a lot of talk about our second periods and I thought we did a better job tonight in that frame.”
The Jets top line was unstoppable, accounting for four of their six goals. Kyle Connor scored his sixth goal of the season and Mark Scheifele moved into a share of the NHL lead with his ninth goal already.
“I thought we played really well,” said Vilardi. “Those two are going to do what they do. They’re unreal to play with and that’s what is expected of us.”
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RAW: Winnipeg Jets Gabriel Vilardi Interview – Oct. 30
The Jets finished October with eight wins for their second best start since returning to Winnipeg.
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Vilardi now has four goals in his last four games after starting the season with a seven-game goalless slump.
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“He was stressing pretty hard there about getting his first,” said Arniel. “And ever since actually, he looks like he’s skating 10 miles per hour faster. But that line was obviously outstanding.”
Jets forward Gustav Nyquist left the game in the first period and did not return.
“Tweaked something there in the corner,” said Arniel. “We got to get it looked at tomorrow and find out.”
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RAW: Winnipeg Jets Scott Arniel Interview – Oct. 30
It didn’t take long for the home side to get on the scoreboard. After Colton Dach took a hooking penalty 81 seconds into the game, the Jets’ power play struck at the 1:42 mark.
After the Blackhawks cleared the puck, Winnipeg rushed it back up the ice with Nyquist taking it through the neutral zone before sending it to the wing for Nino Niederreiter. Niederreiter then gave it back to Nyquist before he slid it in front to a wide-open Vladislav Namestnikov, who made no mistake for his fifth of the season.
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Chicago could not score on a power play not long after Winnipeg opened the scoring but the Blackhawks drew level thanks to a true fluke.
It looked like a routine play as Connor Hellebuyck left the net to play the puck after Connor Murphy dumped it into the Winnipeg end. But the puck took a funky bounce off a stanchion, ricocheting right in front of a gaping net where Teuvo Teravainen whacked it home at the 8:57 mark for one of the easiest goals of his life.
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It stayed tied until the Jets’ top line began to take over the game. Morrissey started the puck up the ice to Connor in the neutral zone, who made a one-touch pass to Scheifele that sprung him and Vilardi on a 2-on-1. Scheifele held the puck as long as he could before sliding a perfect pass across to Vilardi that he shoveled into the net to make it 2-1 with 3:04 left in the first.
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The top line struck again early in the second. Connor picked off an errant pass in the neutral zone and burst up the ice, taking it into the Chicago end before giving it off to Scheifele. He walked into the faceoff dot and sent a wrister on net that Spencer Knight should have stopped, but didn’t, to make it 3-1 at the 1:54 mark of the middle frame.
Their domination continued at the 11:19 mark of the second. The line raced into the Chicago end, three-wide, as Scheifele carried the puck before stopping up. He drifted back towards the blueline before sending a pass across to Morrissey at the other point, who then dropped it down to the dot where Dylan DeMelo was waiting for it. He spotted Vilardi in the slot and fed him for a one-timer that beat Knight to make it 4-1.
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Winnipeg outshot the Blackhawks 11-7 in the second after the two sides both registered seven shots in the first.
The Jets stretched the lead to 5-1 just past the midway point of the third. A point shot from Morrissey rang off the post and bounced into the crease before Knight unknowingly knocked it into his own net with his skate. The goal was Morrissey’s first of the season and Jonathan Toews picked up an assist on the play in his first game against the team he called his own for so many years.
Chicago scored a couple of goals to make things a little interesting with Alex Vlasic and Andre Burakovsky scoring 2:01 apart.
But before the Hawks could pull Knight to try and push for a miracle comeback, Connor put the icing on the cake. Knight had to retreat back to his net after trying to leave the ice because the Jets’ top line pushed the puck into the neutral zone and skated it back into Chicago’s end. Scheifele got the puck over to Connor who then danced through the zone before lifting a backhand top shelf over the shoulder of Knight to make it 6-3.
The top line combined for nine points in the game while Morrissey and DeMelo each picked up a pair of points as well.
Hellebuyck only had to make 21 saves for the win as the Jets improved to 8-3 on the season.
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They will try and extend their win streak to three games when they host Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon, a game that will be broadcast exclusively on Power 97 with Blue Bomber coverage on 680 CJOB.
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RAW: Winnipeg Jets Josh Morrissey Interview – Oct. 30
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