Hot-shooting Laine, Ehlers lead Jets past Blackhawks

[November 30, 2018]  Patrik Laine scored two goals, the 100th and 101st of his career, and Nikolaj Ehlers scored a hat trick to lead the host Winnipeg Jets to a wild 6-5 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

Laine (20 years, 224 days old) also became the fourth-youngest player in NHL history to hit the 100-goal mark, behind only Wayne Gretzky (20 years, 40 days), Jimmy Carson (20 years, 116 days) and Brian Bellows (20 years, 179 days).

Laine also has 18 goals in November, making him the seventh player since 1989-90 to score 17 or more goals in a calendar month.

Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele each had three assists, and Jacob Trouba added a goal and an assist for Winnipeg, which won for the second time in five games. Connor Hellebuyck had 26 saves.

Artem Anisimov and John Hayden each had a goal and an assist, and Marcus Kruger, Jan Rutta and Dominik Kahun also scored goals for Chicago, which lost for the fourth time in five games.

David Kampf added two assists, and Corey Crawford finished with 27 saves for the Blackhawks, who have allowed 14 goals in their last two games.

The teams traded four goals in the first 8:10 of the first period, with Laine starting the scoring with at the 1:43 mark. He put in a rebound of a Jacob Trouba shot.

Kruger tied it at 1 with a rebound goal of an Andreas Martinsen shot, but Winnipeg regained the lead just 49 seconds later on Ehlers' first goal of the game, a tip-in of a Wheeler shot.

Hayden tied it when he put in a rebound of a Kampf drive and shot.

Jets right wing Patrik Laine (29) scores against Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford (50) in the third period at Bell MTS Place. Mandatory Credit: James Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports

The Jets opened the second period with two goals 45 seconds apart, the first by Ehlers on a slap shot from the slot, and the second on a rebound by Trouba on a Wheeler shot.

The Blackhawks then cut their deficit to 4-3 on Rutta's second goal of the season on a slap shot from the blue line that beat Hellebuyck on his glove side.

Laine then scored again, giving him a league-leading 21 goals this season, on a power play at the 1:18 mark of the third period to give the Jets a 5-3 lead, stealing the puck near the bottom of the left circle and firing a wrist shot past Crawford.

Ehlers completed his hat trick when he intercepted an Erik Gustafsson crossing pass at the Blackhawks blue line and then went in on a breakaway and beat Crawford blocker side.

But Kahun and Anisimov answered with goals to cut it to 6-5. Crawford was taken out of the game with 1:45 to go, but Hellebuyck stopped Alex DeBrincat on a close-in shot on Chicago's best chance at tying the game.

--Field Level Media

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