Hutch brilliant: Jets Continue to Have Hawks Number

By Scott Taylor/Photos by Jeff and Tara Miller

They might be the defending Stanley Cup champions, but the Winnipeg Jets still have the Chicago Blackhawks number.

Thursday night, the Cup champs invaded MTS Centre and took the play right to the Jets from the opening faceoff. Trouble is, undefeated Michael Hutchinson was almost perfect and Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd and Mark Scheifele each scored a goal as the Jets beat the Blackhawks 3-1.

It was a big night for Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson (Photo by Jeff Miller)

“Clearly Michael (Hutchinson) has played very well against the Blackhawks, but he’s played very well against other teams, too,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. “He’s built a routine for himself that he follows and his routine never changes. He’s a good goaltender. We have very good goaltending here.”

Last year, the Jets got the better of the Blackhawks, going 3-1-1 against the eventual Cup winners. Ladd led the team with a goal and seven points and on Thursday night he was all over the Hawks, Not only did he score the winning goal, but he had four shots, three hits and two blocked shots.

The Blackhawks opened the scoring on the power play at 1:26 of the first period as Patrick Kane fired a wrister over Hutchinson’s shoulder. At one point, early in the first period, the Hawks had outshot the Jets 9-2 and finished the period outshooting Winnipeg 14-9.

But before the period ended, Wheeler scored his fifth of the year from Bryan Little and the Jets went to the break, deadlocked 1-1 with the Hawks.

Giving up the first goal doesn’t seem to bother the Jets. In eight of Winnipeg’s first 10 games this season, they’ve given up the first goal to their opposition. Yet the Jets now have a 5-2-1 record in those games.

It was a rough night for Jonathan Toews (Photo by Tara Miller)

In the second period, Ladd scored his third of the year from Little and Perreault at 5:09 and then, in the third, Scheifele took a nice pass from Nikolaj Ehlers and beat Corey Crawford on the short side. Ehlers now has a five-game point-scoring streak and with the win, the Jets improved to 6-3-1 on the season.

The Blackhawks outshot the Jets 46-31 But Hutchinson was rock solid. In the second period, he stopped Marian Hossa on a clear cut breakaway and then beat him again, in close, late in the third period. He also made superb saves off Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.

Chicago went to a sixth attacker with 2:40 left to play in regulation time, but even though they had a couple of great scoring chances (including an uncontested point blank shot from Tanner Kero), Hutchinson, who is now 4-0-0 this season, was equal to the task.

“I’m not sure what it is against Chicago,” said Hutchinson. “I just saw the puck real well tonight. It’s always easier, the more shots I see. I got a little tired, but I always find I’m sharper when I see a lot of shots like I did tonight.

“The fans were great tonight and we all really appreciate it.”

Both teams were one-for-three on the power play. Jets defenseman Mark Stuart, the game’s second star, had nine hits and five blocked shots and drilled Hawks captain Jonathan Toews with a solid bodycheck at the Jets blueline in the third period.

Nikolaj Ehlers made a good play to set up Mark Scheifele with the Jets third goal. (Photo by Jeff Miller)

“He had a real strong game,” said Maurice. “He’s played strong for a very long time. He’s got the compete right. He was very good tonight, standing up at the blueline, moving the puck, he played well in all aspects of the game.”

Winnipeg also completed a six-game homestand, the longest homestand of the season, with a record of 3-2-1.

The Jets will now head out onto the road and play in Columbus on Saturday night, in Montreal on Sunday night, in Toronto on Wednesday night and in Ottawa on Thursday before coming home to play the Philadelphia Flyers next Saturday at MTS Centre.

It’s an odd month for the Jets. They play only four games at home in November.

Posted by: Scott Taylor for RiverCitySports.com