Blackhawks lose to Jets after another late collapse

The Chicago Blackhawks were 39 seconds away from ending their four-game road trip with their second straight win before disaster struck. After giving up the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation, they lost 3-2 in overtime to the Winnipeg Jets.

Teuvo Teravainen scored his third goal in two games and gave the Blackhawks a power-play goal in four straight games after scoring only one in the final 12 games before the Olympic break.

After Ryan Greene gave his team a 2-1 lead in the opening minute of the third period, the Jets took over the game. The Blackhawks took about 63 icing calls in the final half of the period, and it eventually caught up to them as the Jets scored a 6-on-5 goal to send the game into overtime. They completed the comeback two minutes into the extra time, sending the Blackhawks home with three points on the trip instead of four.

"We played really good for lots of the game,” head coach Jeff Blashill said. “We just stopped getting out of our zone clean. Because of that, we were in our end for the last 10 to 12 minutes. It's just a hard way to play. We didn't get out clean, and when we had it, I thought we had opportunities to make a little more poised play, and we ended up icing too many pucks. I didn't think we gave up a whole bunch in that stretch, but eventually they found a way. Disappointing for sure."

Figuring Out the Defense

Now that Connor Murphy has gone from being Connor Bedard’s teammate to being Connor McDavid’s teammate, the Blackhawks blue line just got a whole lot younger and less experienced. Head coach Jeff Blashill knows replacing what Murphy brought to the back end will be a group effort.

“We have voids needed to be filled, but I’m also super confident that we have guys in the room who can fill those voids,” he said. “It won’t be just one guy, but it will come collectively from the group. I’m looking forward to those guys taking on the challenge.

“Obviously, the guys on the right side, Louie, Arty, and Rinz, we’ll certainly do more penalty-kill time for one of those guys, or probably multiple guys. That will be a good challenge for those guys just from an on-ice thing. Hopefully, they can get the reps and still do a good job while they’re learning on the fly.”

It was assumed that Kevin Korchinski would get a shot at an expanded role tonight, but instead, he was scratched for Ethan Del Mastro, who was recalled this morning. It has become painfully obvious that Blashill does not like what he’s seeing from Korchinski. Even after six straight practices, he was scratched for the first game back after the Olympic break, then only got into the lineup because Sam Rinzel fell ill. When he did play, he had, by far, the lowest time on ice among the defensemen. And now he’s being sat in favor of a guy who was on an airplane during the team’s morning skate. That’s not a promising sign.

Alex Vlasic led the way with 25:47 of ice time, with Rinzel next at 22:19. Del Mastro played 15:07, which is about three minutes less than Korchinski played in the last two games combined. He had a shot, three shot attempts, two hits, and three blocked shots. The Blackhawks outshot the Jets 8-4 with him on the ice and had a 7-5 advantage in scoring chances.

Not a Goodbye, but See You Later

While tonight was the first game without Murphy, it could have been the last with forwards Jason Dickinson, Ilya Mikheyev, and Nick Foligno. All three veteran forwards could be moved before Friday afternoon’s trade deadline.

Dickinson is the most likely to be traded, as reports say there is a lot of interest in him. The Blackhawks would like to bring back Mikheyev after this season, but it sounds like an extension isn’t coming before the deadline, so he could be traded to a contender. Foligno is the least likely to be traded, but it will be up to the captain to decide how he wants to finish out what is believed to be his final NHL season.

If this was Dickinson’s last game with the Blackhawks, his final faceoff will haunt him. He lost a defensive zone draw to Jonathan Toews, and seconds later, Cole Perfetti tied the game through traffic. We’ll see how the next two days shake out and see who is in the lineup against the Vancouver Canucks

Nuggets & Tidbits

• Connor Bedard continues to feast against the Jets, as he assisted on both Blackhawks goals. He made a fantastic pass to set up Greene’s third-period goal. With the two helpers, he has five goals and 11 points in nine career games. He has two goals and eight points in his current five-game point streak against them. Bedard was wearing an A on his sweater with Murphy’s departure, and Blashill confirmed he will keep it for the remainder of the season.

• As I wrote in our pregame post, the five-on-five defense has vastly improved with the changes Blashill implemented during the Olympic break. The biggest reason this is such a disappointing loss is because of how well the Blackhawks played through two periods. At 5-on-5 in the first 40 minutes of the game, they allowed 27 shot attempts, eight scoring chances, and only one high-danger scoring chance. In the third period, the Jets had 22 shot attempts, 15 scoring chances, and six high-danger scoring chances.

• The penalty kill went a perfect 2-for-2 in their first game without Murphy. The first kill really doesn’t count, as they were only needed for 13 seconds. Shortly after taking the lead, they had to kill off Bedard’s hooking penalty and did so by only allowing one shot attempt.

• Learning how to close out games is something Blashill has preached about all season long. As Ben Pope points out, this season could have been a lot different had the Blackhawks found a way to win these games.