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 They knew they were generating high-quality scoring chances against
their division rivals, the Winnipeg Jets, and that a few pucks were
bound to find their way into the net.
That was exactly what happened. Left winger Patrick Sharp took
advantage of a freak occurrence to tie the game, and center Jonathan
Toews tipped home the game-winner with 30.8 seconds remaining to
give the Blackhawks a much-needed 4-3 victory at MTS Centre.
Chicago coach Joel Quenneville called the game the biggest win of
the season for his club, which had been slowly losing touch with the
teams at the top of the Western Conference.
"The guys hung in," he said. "The attitude going into the third
period was, 'Hey, we've done a lot of good things, let's go for 20
(minutes) and see what happens."
Toews, a Winnipeg native, got his stick on a shot from defenseman
Niklas Hjalmarsson at the right point and redirected it into the top
corner to stun the crowd.
"I don't think anyone panicked or lost their cool or anything," said
Toews, the Blackhawks' captain. "We've all been in situations like
that before whether it's playoffs or regular season.
"We're going to have to win games in dramatic fashion sometimes,
especially this time of year."
Centers Andrew Shaw and Brad Richards also scored for Chicago
(45-24-6), which moved back into third place in the Central
Division. The Blackhawks jumped one point ahead of the Minnesota
Wild, who slipped into the top Western Conference wild-card
position.
Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien scored two power-play goals in the
second period for the Jets, and right winger Blake Wheeler added a
short-handed marker. Winnipeg (39-25-12) remains in the second
wild-card spot, two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings.
Sharp's goal came on the kind of an unusual play. Jets defenseman
Toby Enstrom got tangled up with a linesman along the boards and
lost his stick. Enstrom tried to make a play with his glove, but
Sharp scooped up the puck, went in alone on Jets goalie Ondrej
Pavelec and buried a snap shot to tie the game 6:27 into the third
period.
"I saw he was tied up and in a little bit of trouble," Sharp said.
"That's an unfortunate play for them, fortunate for us. We've had
our fair share of posts and (pucks) staying out, so it's nice to get
a good bounce to go in."
A despondent Jets coach Paul Maurice didn't have much to say about
the play.
"It's like an injury," Maurice said. "You know, you're angry when it
happens, but there isn't anything you can do about it."
Jets captain Andrew Ladd said the play was no excuse for failing to
at least earn a point in the game.
"It's always tough to give up the tying goal on that play, but at
the same time it's still a 3-3 hockey game late in the third period
and we've got to find a way to take that thing to at least
overtime," the left winger said.
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Byfuglien's second goal came on a hard shot from the blue line that
cleanly beat Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford with 26 seconds
remaining in the second period to give the home team a 3-2 lead. It
was the big defenseman's third goal in two games since returning
from injury.
Wheeler finished an end-to-end, short-handed passing play with
assists from Ladd and Tyler Myers to give the Jets their first lead
of the game at 2-1. The tally at 7:40 of the second period was
Wheeler's fourth short-handed goal of the season.
Richards tied it at 2-2 with his 12th goal of the season on a
perfect tip of a Johnny Oduya point shot that went up and over
Pavelec's shoulder at 16:19 of the middle period.
Byfuglien's first goal somehow went off Crawford's blocker, over the
goalie's head and off his back before finding the net to make it 1-1
early in the middle frame.
Shaw opened the scoring at 18:30 of the first period, on Chicago's
first power play of the game, pouncing on a puck in the crease and
putting it past Pavelec for his 14th goal of the season.
The Jets finished the night with a 34-24 edge in shots. Crawford
made 31 saves for the win, while Pavelec stopped 20 shots.
NOTES: Jets C Mathieu Perreault returned to the lineup after missing
16 games with a lower-body injury. Top C Bryan Little missed an 11th
straight game with an upper-body injury. ... Chicago RW Patrick Kane
missed a 14th straight game with a fractured clavicle. ... The Jets
won three straight meetings between the clubs in Chicago to start
the season before Chicago was victorious in Winnipeg on Feb. 6. ...
The Jets fell to 12-3-2 in their past 17 home games. ... Corey
Crawford started in goal for Chicago two days after being pulled in
the first period against Columbus.
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reserved.]
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