*Photo from the St. Louis Post Dispatch*
The Jets are beginning to take off, and they're fine tuning their form for peak efficiency. Saku Maenalanen scored twice, Kyle Connor had a 3 point game, and the Winnipeg Jets rolled past the Chicago Blackhawks with a 7-2 victory on Sunday night in Chicago.
Winnipeg came out firing on all cylinders to wrap up their road trip, scoring early and often to blow Chicago out of their own building. They've won two straight games and 3 of their last 4, riding a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games to improve to 13-6-1, second place in the Central Division.
Maenalanen and Pierre-Luc Dubois were the leading scorers with two goals apiece for the Jets. Connor picked up a goal and two assists for a 3 point night, with Josh Morrisey dishing out 3 assists. Blake Wheeler also had a two assist night to round out the scoresheet.
Dubois said of the rhythm of the team that "It just kept rolling. If you want to be successful team in this League, the only way to do it throughout the 82-game season is like that, where everybody contributes. Some nights, some lines might contribute more offensively or defensively, but for it to be sustainable, that's how it's going to have to look this year. We did a good job tonight."
Jansen Harkins scored the only goal of the first period to give the Jets a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Maenalanen scored 2:55 into the second to make the lead 2-0. Taylor Raddysh scored to get Chicago on the board before Connor and Maenalanen scored for the Jets to pad their lead to 4-1. Jujhar Khaira scored for the Blackhawks before Mark Scheifele did the same for the Jets, making it 5-2 after two periods.
Dubois kept the scoring going in the 3rd period for the Jets. He scored his 9th goal of the season 4:37 into the final period, with Connor assisting to make it a 6-2 game. A power play goal from Dubois at the 12:10 mark of the 3rd sealed the game, with Connor and Morrisey assisting on his second goal of the night.
Winnipeg head coach Rick Bowness said of the big win that "We had some good goals, some timely goals. We did a lot of good things out there tonight. Every line scored, so that's nice to see. We need some goals from that bottom six, and we've been getting them."
Unsurprisingly, Connor Hellebuyck was in net for the Jets, picking up another win in a resurgent season for the goalie. Hellebuyck saved 23 of 25 shots he saw from the Blackhawks, posting a .920 save percentage as the win increases his record to 10-5-1 through 16 starts.
The Blackhawks sent Petr Mrazek out as the starter, and he got shelled by the Jets offense. Mrazek only managed to stop 37 out of the 44 shots he was peppered with, which was good for a mere .841 save percentage as his record dropped to 1-5-1 in 8 starts so far this season.
Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said after the game that "We just kind of fed into what the Jets want to do as a team, and we got away from our team game today, so it's all those little details aside from just our preparation and making sure we're getting each other ready to go and playing the right way so that we can go out there and give ourselves a chance to create the results we want."
Up next, the Jets return home for a Tuesday night showdown against the Colorado Avalanche, with Hellebuyck the projected starter. Mrazek is in line to start for the Blackhawks when they host the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.
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