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No Time Left For You: Jets 3, Blackhawks 2

Yet another third-period lead that didn’t last.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Terrence Lee-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks let another late lead disappear on Tuesday night in Winnipeg, falling 3-2 to the Jets to cap their four-game road trip.

Dylan Samberg scored about four minutes into the game to give Winnipeg an early 1-0 lead:

Near the end of the first period, Frank Nazar found Teuvo Teravainen open in a prime scoring area, and Teuvo made no mistake to tie the game at one:

In the first minute of the third period, Connor Bedard found Ryan Greene open near the left faceoff dot and Greene picked a corner expertly to put the Hawks up 2-1:

Winnipeg poured it on late and found the game-tying goal on the stick of Cole Perfetti with 39 seconds left:

Then Mark Scheifele won it in overtime:

Notes

There were definitely times in this game when the Jets looked a team full of veterans playing out the stretch of a disappointing season while the Hawks skaters used their youthful energy to fly all over the ice. This was most evident in the first two periods, as the Hawks had roughly two-thirds of the expected goal share during 5-on-5 play in the first two periods. They were also up 13-12 in shots on goal, 15-8 in scoring chances and 3-1 in high-danger chances. It was low-event hockey, but the Hawks had the better of it. Much different story in the third period, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Let’s take a closer look at the Teuvo PPG because it was one of the better moments we’ve seen from Nazar in a while, specifically in the way he attacked Winnipeg defender Morgan Barron (No. 36 in blue) before the goal. As Nazar emerges from the wall with the puck, there’s space to be taken for Nazar and he takes it, which forces Barron to make a decision.

Just a second later, Nazar’s movement forces Barron to move closer to the goal, making the passing lane to Teuvo a little smoother. And Nazar’s no-look pass further helps the angle for the pass.

Nazar was involved in another skilled display earlier in the first period that didn’t result in a goal. Levshunov makes a perfect pass from the wall to the top of the opposite dot and Nazar takes this 50 or 60-foot pass and rips it on net, coming within inches of a goal. We should be seeing moments like that from each player on a damn near nightly basis over this final stretch of the season.

Greene and Bedard connected for a goal in the third period and the two nearly connected for a couple other goals in the second, with Greene making these nifty passes to set up Bedard. Again: these are the moments we’ve consistently seen from Greene this season, despite his ultimate NHL projection seeming to be in some sort of bottom-six role. If other players with similar projections aren’t making plays like him, perhaps those projections are being too optimistic.

A roster gripe: running out of patience for this continued Matt Grzelcyk inclusion in the lineup while Kevin Korchinski watches from the press box. One of those players is a No. 7 pick, and the other player was available to any other team in the league all summer long before joining the Blackhawks on a PTO just ahead of training camp, so their trade value seems minimal at best. Perhaps this is all resolved with a move between now and Friday so we don’t have to talk about it ever again. Should also note that they’re both lefties, so it’s not like this switch would require Korchinski to play on his off-side or anything.

Ilya Mikheyev is a perfectly cromulent hockey player and I, for one, will not be too disappointed if he’s still with the Hawks after the trade deadline passes on Friday. It’s not like he’s going to fetch some incredible return in a trade, and how many more second-round picks does this team need, anyway? If the right deal materializes, go for it, but perhaps Mikheyev can be of use in his current role for the next season or two to help this team emerge from the league basement and actually contend for a playoff spot.

This loss is probably more of an annoying one than a bad one. Plenty of kids had quality moments (Greene, Nazar, Levshunov, etc.) and the collective effort was decent overall. Teams down by one goal are always going to pour it on late, and it wasn’t like some egregious breakdown led to the goal — seemed more like just enough of a screen from Alex Vlasic kept Knight from seeing that shot well enough to stop it. Blashill did think the team could’ve been better at puck management in the final minutes, though:

And perhaps getting that sorted out will sort out this ugly stat from the season:

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Mark Scheifele (WPG) — 1 goal, 2 assists
  2. Ryan Greene (CHI) — 1 goal
  3. Cole Perfetti (WPG) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks have a few days off before returning to the United Center on Friday night to host the Vancouver Canucks at 7:30 p.m.

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