Michael Hutchinson And The Winnipeg Jets Sweep The Hawks At United Center

Jan 11, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville during the third period at the United Center. The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-1. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

The Blackhawks and Jets met for one last time in the regular season at the United Center on Friday night, The Blackhawks hadn’t played since Sunday night so there was some question on how they would come out for the first period, rusty or rested and focused! Here is how the Central Divisional game played out at the U.C.

First Period

The First period was about as close to a playoff game that you can find in the middle of January. Brandon Saad opened up the scoring very early when he took a bouncing puck from Marian Hossa and put in a very sweet back hander past Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson. The playoff feel came after Bryan Bickell came out with some clean hard hits and after three hits the Jets Anthony Peluso had seen enough and they started throwing punches. Bickell didn’t get his gloves off in time and really lost the fight but Peluso got a 10 minute misconduct for the fight.

The Jets tied it up when Andrew Ladd undressed David Rundblad in the corner and made a nice pass to the blue line and the puck ended up in the back of the net. The physical play continued when Daniel Carcillo starting running at people and when Jim Slater of the Jets ran at Patrick Kane, Brent Seabrook had enough and won the fight easily to the excitement of the crowd and Pat Foley.

The first period was very entertaining with the Jets leading the shot total 16-12, the question is with the Jets playing back to back game is will both teams be able to keep the energy and intensity.

Second Period

As expected the 2nd period wasn’t as intense as the first period with both team intensity not as sky high as the opening frame. Neither team was able to get one in the net with both Hutchinson and Crawford on top of their game on Friday night. The one player that stood out in the second period was Teuvo, Teuvo had three really good chances and was setting up players but both Patrick Sharp and Andrew Shaw but neither were ready for his passing just yet.

The period ended with the reason why no one really likes Carcillo. When Duncan Keith had his stick knocked out of his hand and a powerplay coming to the Hawks, Carcillo cross checked a Jets player to nullify the powerplay. The third period opens up with 4 on 4 play and hopefully some quick Hawks momentum.