A fourth and final game against the Winnipeg Jets for the 2023-24 NHL season awaits the Blackhawks on Friday night at the United Center.
The Central Division foe surged up the standings in December and January by going 14 games without a regulation loss (12-0-2), with the final win in that span a 2-1 victory over these Blackhawks at home on Jan. 11. At the time of that game, the Jets were the top team in the entire league before promptly losing six of the next eight. But they’re flying high (GET IT?) once again as winners in four of their last five games, including a 6-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. Winnipeg owns a 34-15-5 record, good for 73 points and third place in the Central Division and eighth in the league overall with games in hand over every team above them in the standings, including four apiece over the two teams topping them in the Central: (Dallas with 76 points in 58 games and Colorado with 75 in 58). Home ice in the postseason remains in the Jets’ grasp, although the team’s road record (15-8-3) is pretty much in line with the home one (19-7-2).
The question for Winnipeg at the moment, though, appears to revolve around its ability to put butts in the seats for those home games:
On the ice, though, the story remains the same, with goaltender Connor Hellebuyck backstopping the toughest team in the NHL to score against, allowing just 2.35 per game. Backup Laurent Brossoit started Winnipeg’s last game on Tuesday, so it seems like Hellebuyck should be the netminder for this game, bringing with him impressive numbers of: 26-11-3 record, .925 save percentage and 2.20 goals-against average. According to Hockey Reference’s “goals saved above average” statistic, he’s the best in the league at 24.57, with the No. 2 goalie — Seattle’s Joey Daccord — well behind at 19.85. Combine that with a team in front of Hellebuyck that does an above average job of possessing the puck, an it makes for a difficult task of getting pucks into the Winnipeg net. But Hellebuyck had similar numbers last season (37-25-2, .920, 2.49) and Winnipeg was bounced from the first round of the playoffs in 2023 by Vegas, when Hellebuyck’s numbers were less impressive in those five games: 1-4, .886, 3.44.
To bolster its offense, Winnipeg made a trade three weeks ago, shipping a 2024 first-round pick and a conditional 2027 third-rounder to Montreal for center Sean Monahan, who’s scored five goals in seven games since arriving. Lump him in with a decent top six that includes Mark Schefiele (team-high 47 points in 48 games), Kyle Connor (37 in 38) and Nikolaj Ehlers (37 in 54), and it seems like the Jets could have some more offensive punch than in postseasons prior. Josh Morrissey still roams the blue line almost 25 minutes a night as one of the game’s top defensemen but whether or not this is all a lineup worthy of a deep postseason run can only be answered when those playoff games arrive in a few mew months.
Here’s how Winnipeg is expected to line up on Friday, with the aforementioned Ehlers expected to slot in somewhere although he’s still battling a nagging injury:
As for the Blackhawks, that Jan. 11 loss to Winnpeg was particularly annoying, as Winnipeg trailed 1-0 for the majority of the night but then scored a pair of goals in the final three minutes to escape with a 2-1 win. That was also early in Bedard’s absence, when the situation around Chicago was especially bleak. Back on Dec. 27, Bedard damn near singlehandedly led the Blackhawks to a 2-1 OT win over these Jets, providing the winner with this unstoppable laser of a wrister past Hellebuyck:
Mrazek was also fantastic that night, with the combined efforts of Mrazek and Bedard about the only way Chicago is able to notch victories this season, it seems. The good news is that both will be in the lineup for this game:
The bad news? Chicago’s current record, which is good for last place in the NHL. Everything on paper suggests this will be a Blackhawks loss, but that No. 98 kid is certainly capable of taking that paper and setting it on fire with his own on-ice wizardry.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Jets
43.74% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 52.34% (7th)
41.93% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 52.18% (7th)
2.07 (32nd) — Goals per game — 3.06 (18th)
3.53 (t-28th) — Goals against per game — 2.35 (1st)
45.8% (31st) — Faceoffs — 47.0% (27th)
12.9% (32nd) — Power play — 17.5% (23rd)
77.5% (23rd) — Penalty kill — 77.2% (24th)
How to watch
When: 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Webstream: Hulu/ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720