Kyle Connor scored the game-winner 25 seconds into overtime, Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice and Josh Morrissey assisted on all three goals to lift the Winnipeg Jets past the host Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Friday.
Winnipeg won for the fifth time in the past six games to reach 75 points and vault into a tie with the Colorado Avalanche for second place in the Central Division. Winnipeg and Colorado are one point behind the Dallas Stars.
Connor helped the Jets avoid a letdown, as his shot deflected off a Blackhawks player and past goaltender Petr Mrazek following a Chicago turnover.
Chicago’s Tyler Johnson scored the tying goal with an extra attacker with 42 seconds to go, converting a spinning, cross-crease setup from Jason Dickinson to beat Connor Hellebuyck.
Hellebuyck had 33 saves and Mrazek 28.
Losers of 11 of 12 (1-9-2), the Blackhawks gained a point but still have an NHL-low 34. Chicago lost three of four meetings with Winnipeg this season, but just one game was decided by more than one goal, and two went to overtime.
Ehlers recorded his first multi-goal game since Dec. 13 and his third of the season. He opened the scoring at 14:47 of the first period, getting a goal on a shot from a difficult angle, just before the end line.
Ehlers made it 2-0 at 1:49 of the second. Moving down the ice under a delayed penalty call, he passed to himself off the boards and darted toward the middle before sending a slap shot past Mrazek.
Colin Blackwell put the Blackhawks on the board at 15:58 of the second when he gathered a stretch pass from Seth Jones and beat Hellebuyck on a breakaway.
The Jets’ Sean Monahan hit the post just before the period ended, but Chicago brought much of the pressure in the third.
Dickinson had a prime opportunity to tie the game with 15:05 left, but he couldn’t capitalize on an open net. His shot glanced off the far post.
The Jets training staff tended to a dazed Hellebuyck midway through the second period. Chicago’s Taylor Raddysh was called for an illegal check to the head after working to screen the goaltender in front of the net.
–Field Level Media
