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 Staring down the likes of classy center Jonathan Toews and all-star
right wingers Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa, the Winnipeg Jets
goalie elevates his game to another level.
Take the Jets' tidy 3-1 triumph over the defending Stanley Cup
champions on Thursday night, for example. Hutchinson allowed a
relatively soft goal just 86 seconds into the contest but steadied
himself and finished with 45 saves to spark the Jets.
Winnipeg (6-3-1) scored a goal in every period against its Central
Division rivals, while the Blackhawks' offense continued to sputter.
The Jets ended a six-game homestand on a winning note, thanks in
large part to Hutchinson's brilliance. The second-year goalie has a
4-0-1 lifetime record against the Blackhawks dating back to the
early part of the 2014-15 season.
Hutchinson was asked if he has a personal vendetta against Chicago
(6-4-0).
"No, it's just one of those teams that sometimes you have it where
things just go your way," he said. "I think our whole team is in
their heads. I don't think they like playing us. We play pretty
physical when we're against them."
Hutchinson is 4-0-0 this season with a 1.75 save percentage and a
.949 save percentage.
He said he wasn't shaken when Kane's weak wrist shot from the
faceoff dot beat him through the pads at 1:26 of the first period
with the Jets a man short. The goal was Kane's sixth in just 10
games this season.
"Obviously, I would have liked to have that one back," Hutchinson
said. "You never want to let a goal go through you. But at the same
time, I knew that we answered back so quick that we were still right
in the game and you can't let another one past you, especially
against Chicago. As soon as they get a bit of a lead, they're able
to kind of shut it down. Fortunately, we were able to answer back
right away and just go from there."
Jets right winger Blake Wheeler ripped his fourth goal of the season
at 8:12 of the first period. A clean faceoff win by center Bryan
Little led to the equalizer as Wheeler picked up the puck and
released a hard wrist shot that beat Chicago goalie Corey Crawford
low to the glove side.
Winnipeg left winger Andrew Ladd scored the only goal of the second
period, his third tally of the season, with the Jets enjoying a
power play. Little got his second assist of the night as the Jets
grabbed a 2-1 lead.
Meanwhile, Hutchinson did his best work in the middle frame,
stopping all 18 shots the Blackhawks fired his way.
Center Mark Scheifele added his fourth goal of the year 8:04 into
the third period.
"(Hutchinson) was awesome all night. That's about it. He was
unbelievable for us tonight," said Scheifele, who took a great drop
pass from rookie right winger Nikolaj Ehlers and rifled a snap shot
below Crawford's blocker. "He kept us in it, especially in that
first period. He had an awesome game."
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Crawford, coming off a pair of shutout victories, made 28 saves.
Despite rattling off four consecutive wins before arriving at the
MTS Centre, Chicago hasn't registered an even-strength goal in
regulation time in 11 periods, going back to a first-period goal by
center Artem Anisimov on Oct. 22 against the Florida Panthers.
Kane said the club needs to net some greasy goals to get rolling.
"I think we had some chances to score some goals. You know, give the
goaltender credit," Kane said. "But you know, at this point in time,
we can do things a little bit different to make it tougher on their
goalie. Try to get to the net, stay at the net, get shots through,
get rebounds and try to bang in goals that way -- get some dirty
goals, because it seems all the pretty plays are not really
happening for us. We can do a better job at trying to get some ugly
ones."
The game was the first of five between the two Central Division
teams this season.
Toews said there is definitely a different feel to games between
division rivals.
"I don't think either team is going to give up anything easy, and we
saw that tonight," he said. "It's something we can expect down the
road from (the Jets) and from the other teams that we'll be battling
for points down the stretch and throughout the season. And we're
just getting started, I guess."
NOTES: Chicago C Tanner Kero made his NHL debut Thursday night,
flanked by LW Bryan Bickell and RW Ryan Garbutt. The Michigan native
was called up from the AHL's Rockford IceHogs this week, while
fellow rookie C Vincent Hinostroza was reassigned. ... Blackhawks D
Duncan Keith (right knee), Michal Rozsival (left ankle) are still on
the mend, while LW Teuvo Teravainen and D Erik Gustafsson were
healthy scratches. ... The Jets sat three healthy bodies, D Adam
Pardy, D Paul Postma and RW Anthony Peluso. ... Chicago just
finished a perfect four-game homestand (4-0-0). ... The Jets play
eight of the next nine contests on the road. ... Winnipeg RW Blake
Wheeler's streak of consecutive games with at least a point to start
the season was snapped Tuesday in the club's 4-1 loss to Los
Angeles. He amassed 11 points in the squad's first eight games.
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