These Eyes: Blackhawks at Jets Preview

The Blackhawks will conclude their post-Olympics road trip on Tuesday night in Winnipeg when it takes on the Jets.

These two teams met at the United Center in mid-January, with much of the focus that evening on former Hawks captain Jonathan Toews playing in his first game in Chicago as an opponent. The Hawks won that game 2-0 and much of what was discussed regarding Winnipeg in the preview for that game still holds true. The Jets are still 10 points behind a playoff spot and have just 23 games to eliminate that gap while leaping four teams in the process — a virtually impossible task this late in this season. And it doesn’t help that top defenseman Josh Morrissey is on IR after sustaining an injury while playing for Canada in the Olympics. He’s slated to return this season but not in time for this game. Neal Pionk has also been out since mid-January, meaning that Winnipeg’s top two blue-liners in terms of average ice time will not be on the ice this evening. Combine those absences with a season from goaltender Connor Hellebuyck that’s below his usual lofty standards — although he certainly returned to those standards to win a gold medal — and it’s a collective defense from Winnipeg that’s not as formidable as in prior seasons.

Up front, the trio of Mark Scheifele (70 points in 59 games), Kyle Connor (67 in 59) and Gabe Vilardi (52 in 59) produce most of the offensive threat. The No. 4 forward on this team in terms of point production is Alex Iafallo at a measly 22 in 59 games. A team that can’t outscore its opponents and hasn’t been a defensive stalwart all adds up to … well, this season’s Winnipeg Jets, who enter this game at 27th in the league standings.

Hellebuyck was the confirmed starter for this one, based on the morning skate. Here’s the rest of the expected Winnipeg lineup:

#NHLJets on the ice for AM skate. Looks like no changes.

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Lowry-Iafallo
Nyquist-Toews-Duehr
Koepke-Barron-Pearson

Stanley-DeMelo
Samberg-Salomonsson
Fleury-Schenn

Heinola the extra. Morrissey, Miller in non-contact.

Hellebuyck gets the start. pic.twitter.com/39HEXMgspG

— Mike McIntyre (@mikemcintyrewpg) March 3, 2026

As for the Hawks, Sunday’s win in Utah was largely due to the team’s collective defensive efforts, which made Arvid Soderblom’s 22-save shutout much lower on the degree of difficulty than expected for a Blackhawks goalie this season. Following Monday’s trade of veteran blue-liner Connor Murphy, the Blackhawks D corps is younger and less experienced overall, so it’ll be interesting to see how well it plays in its first outing without the stability offered by Murphy’s play. With him gone, Ethan Del Mastro was recalled from Rockford and is expected to be available for this game. Sam Rinzel could also skate after missing the weekend’s games with an illness. Spencer Knight returns to the crease based on the morning skate, with the rest of the lineup detailed below:

Blashill said Del Mastro is flying in and will be available tonight. Korchinski stayed on the ice late, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the third pair tonight is actually Del Mastro-Rinzel

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 3, 2026

Korchinski being relegated to the press box would be a little annoying. Shouldn’t the kids be playing out this stretch of the season?

Eh, whatever. The Jets are a veteran-laden team playing out the final portions of an overall disappointing season. The Blackhawks have a youth-filled roster with players still needing to prove that they belong in the NHL long-term. Seems like it should be easy to conclude which team has more on the line in this game.

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Jets
46.33% (29th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 48.39% (21st)
43.91% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 47.54% (26th)
2.63 (26th) — Goals per game — 2.83 (t-24th)
3.12 (t-19th) — Goals against per game — 3.08 (t-16th)
46.8% (30th) — Faceoffs — 50.5% (14th)
19.4% (21st) — Power play — 18.6% (22nd)
85.7% (1st) — Penalty kill — 79.3% (t-16th)
(All stats from this season)