Mark Scheifele scored 38 seconds into overtime after tying the game in the closing stages and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots to lift the host Winnipeg Jets to a 2-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom appeared on the verge of his first career shutout in a duel with Hellebuyck, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner.
Instead, the Jets prevailed in their home opener with late heroics. The game-winner was the 300th career goal for Scheifele, who put it in on a redirect from Kyle Connor. Josh Morrissey had the secondary assist.
Ryan Donato scored late in the second period for Chicago.
Soderblom stopped 33 shots.
Scheifele netted the tying goal with 1:04 remaining in regulation. With the Jets bringing an extra attacker after pulling Hellebuyck, Scheifele backhanded a rebound past Soderblom, who saved a shot by Nikolaj Ehlers.
Donato opened the scoring for Chicago at 16:52 of the middle period, gathering a stretch pass and firing a wrist shot past Hellebuyck’s glove side from just inside the left circle.
Patrick Maroon, who chipped the puck to Donato, notched an assist on the play.
The Jets, who blitzed defending the Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers 6-0 on Wednesday in their opener, struggled to solve Soderblom but had their chances.
Early in the third, Soderblom turned aside a Gabriel Vilardi redirection and a Scheifele one-timer from a Vilardi pass in short succession.
Hellebuyck robbed Donato with a glove save midway through the period to keep the deficit at one goal.
Winnipeg’s Neal Pionk delivered a solid, clean hipcheck to Connor Bedard early in the game, prompting some words from Maroon, acting as an enforcer.
The play offered some excitement during an otherwise quiet first period in which the Jets outshot the Blackhawks 7-6.
The defensive struggle flipped the script on the recent trend in the series between the Central Division rivals. Winnipeg entered Friday on an 11-1-1 run against Chicago, scoring at least three goals 10 times in those 13 games.
The Jets were 0-for-2 on the power play while the Blackhawks were 0-for-1.
Friday marked the first in a four-game homestand for the Jets. Chicago is in the midst of a season-opening four-game road trip, having dropped its opener 5-2 to the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday.
–Field Level Media
