The Chicago Blackhawks (23-28-10) were just 38.6 seconds away from a second straight, full-team victory to finish their four-game road trip out of the Olympic break. Instead, the night ended catastrophically, with the Winnipeg Jets (24-26-10) tying the game in the final minute of regulation and winning 3-2 in overtime at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday.
That will make for a quiet flight back home to Chicago.
Through the first two periods, the Blackhawks picked up where they had left off in Seattle on Sunday, where they won 4-0 behind one of their best performances of the season. While the score was tied 1-1 going into the second intermission, the Blackhawks led 18-9 in scoring chances and had limited Winnipeg to only one high-danger opportunity at even strength. The only reason they didn’t have the lead was that American hero Connor Hellebuyck was having another Gold-Medal-esque outing in net for the Jets.
But in the opening minute of the third period, rookie Ryan Greene let go of a shot that even Hellebuyck had no chance of stopping, putting the Blackhawks in the driver’s seat with a 2-1 advantage. Greene let go of a laserbeam that cruised over Hellebuyck’s left shoulder and bounced out of the net as quickly as it went in. After that, all the Blackhawks needed to secure a second consecutive win was to continue playing their same brand of hockey.
Foolishly, they diverted from the aggressive mentality that earned them the lead in the first place and decided that two goals were enough to get the job done. Over the final 15 minutes of regulation, the Blackhawks were constantly icing the puck, rather than executing proper breakouts and turning defense into offense, as they did in the first two periods. They were stuck in their own end for far too long because of their lousy decisions and lack of execution, and eventually, the Jets made them pay for it.
After surrendering only nine scoring chances through two periods, the Blackhawks allowed a whopping 17 in the third period alone, while being credited with only two themselves. Winnipeg also had eight high-danger chances in the period, which doubled their total after 40 minutes.
The Blackhawks didn’t play to win late in Tuesday’s game; they tried not to lose. That proved to be a costly mistake in what could be the final game with the team for several players ahead of Friday’s trade deadline. For veteran trade chips like Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev, who could be on the move over the next 48 hours, this would be a painful finish to their Blackhawks tenures.
Here are the highlights from a heartbreaking 3-2 loss for the Blackhawks, dropping their record to 23-28-10 through 61 games this season.
FIRST PERIOD
The Blackhawks received the game’s first power play just under three minutes in, as Morgan Barron was whistled for high-sticking Artyom Levshunov at 2:57. However, their man advantage was quickly negated just 12 seconds later by a holding penalty from Sam Rinzel, setting up a 4-on-4 situation for nearly two full minutes.
To add insult to injury for Chicago, Dylan Samberg scored during the 4-on-4 to put the Jets ahead 1-0, finishing off a feed from Mark Scheifele at 3:59 for his first goal of the season. Scheifele’s pass somehow snuck under Alex Vlasic’s stick and found Samberg at the right circle. That was one Spencer Knight likely wants to have back.
Frank Nazar was the most active Blackhawks’ skater during the opening 20 minutes and nearly tied the game with just over 13 minutes remaining. Nazar blasted a one-timer and beat Hellebuyck cleanly after a terrific circle-to-circle pass from Levshunov, but the puck glanced off the post and out. Still 1-0.
After wasting their first power-play opportunity of the period, the Blackhawks were much improved on their second go-around. Teuvo Teravainen wristed a shot off the crossbar and in for his 13th goal of the season and third in the last two games to tie the game 1-1 at 18:48. Teravainen now has points in all four games out of the Olympic break.
Connor Bedard➡️Frank Nazar➡️Teuvo Teravainen🚨
Nazar finds Teravainen in the slot for his 13th goal of the season & 3rd in the last 2 games to tie the game 1-1! Teuvo now has a points in 4 straight games. #Blackhawks also have a PPG in 4 games in a row.pic.twitter.com/8eWieu5XMF
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) March 4, 2026
While the two teams combined for only 10 shots, each found the back of the net in the period. The score remained tied 1-1 going into the first intermission. Winnipeg led 6-4 in shots on goal, but Chicago had a 9-4 advantage in scoring chances.
SECOND PERIOD
After a fairly back-and-forth first period, the Blackhawks started to take over in the early stages of the second. Most of the middle frame was spent in Winnipeg’s end of the ice, but Hellebuyck made quality save after quality save to keep the score tied.
Chicago’s top line of Greene, Connor Bedard, and Andre Burakovsky was especially dominant in the period, creating several dangerous scoring chances together. Just past the six-minute mark, Greene slipped a feed from below the goal line to Bedard in the slot, but Hellebuyck somehow got his glove on the shot to steer the puck wide.
Greene found Bedard once again moments later for a one-on-one bid against Hellebuyck, but the Jets netminder was in a perfect position to prevent a backhanded shot from sliding underneath his pads. Still tied.
The Blackhawks had the better chances in the period, but neither team found the back of the net. The score remained 1-1 going into the second intermission, but the visitors led 18-8 in scoring chances and 14-13 in shots on goal.
THIRD PERIOD
Winnipeg couldn’t get Hellebuyck off for the extra attacker until only 1:28 remained in regulation, but that was all the time they needed to tie the game and force overtime.
After the Blackhawks iced the puck once again, the Jets called their timeout with just under one minute to play. Off the offensive-zone faceoff, which Jonathan Toews won, Cole Perfetti launched a shot through traffic and past Knight to even the score 2-2 with 38.6 seconds left. There were two or three bodies out in front, but that’s still a save Knight is expected to make. Regardless, it wasn’t his fault that this game came down to the wire.
OVERTIME
All the momentum was in favor of the home side heading into overtime. The Blackhawks seemed somewhat deflated, as they failed to record a shot on goal and didn’t generate any threatening chances to end the game.
Mark Scheifele netted the overtime winner at 2:06 of overtime, coming off a bad turnover by Greene, who had played a solid game up to that point. Samberg stripped Greene of the puck and found Scheifele trailing the play. The Jets’ captain rifled a shot into the top corner to send the Blackhawks to a brutal defeat.
Up next for the Blackhawks is a meeting on Friday with the lowly Vancouver Canucks, who are also expected to sell off multiple pieces from their roster before the trade deadline earlier that afternoon. It’s the first game at the United Center since Feb. 2, over one month ago.
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