It was a night a long time in the making for Jonathan Toews, making his highly anticipated return to Chicago on Monday.
But after all the buildup and an unforgettable ovation for the longtime captain of the Blackhawks, a game still needed to be played, and the Winnipeg Jets failed to score in a 2-0 loss.
The Blackhawks took the lead midway through the second period, and it stood up as the game winner as an empty netter in the final two minutes sealed the win for Chicago.
“They ended up flipping a puck out in the neutral zone and winning the race to it,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “But at the end of the day, we get in games like that, they’re tight like that. Chicago was really defending the net front. We got to find a way. We got to find a way to get inside, get those rebounds, get the greasy goals. We’ve been doing a really good job of that recently. We got to find a way to even that score.”
It was the first time the Jets surrendered the first goal of the game in their last 10 outings.
It was a memorable night for Toews in his first game back in Chicago after playing 15 seasons for the Blackhawks. Toews received a more than three-minute standing ovation following a video tribute during a first period TV timeout.
“It blew me away obviously,” said Toews. “It’s a crazy moment to again get that reception from the fans. And pretty special, something I’ll remember forever.
“It felt like forever. Not sure what to do after a while in that situation. The boys kept telling me to go do another lap and so, yeah, pretty special.”
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The regulation loss ended a five-game point streak for Winnipeg. The Jets had an opportunity to pass the Blackhawks in the standings with a win but fell three points back with the loss.
“A big, missed opportunity,” said Jets defenceman Logan Stanley. “We got to bear down a little bit and find a way to score. Those one-goal games, we got to come away with two points.”
Defenceman Isaak Phillips made his Jets debut against his former team after Elias Salomonsson came down with an illness. But Phillips was used very sparingly with just 6:29 of ice time.
“That was real short notice for him,” Arniel said. “It night of helped him not coming in here too nervous. But I thought, yeah, he handled himself well. He used his size, skated well, made some nice plays, so, yeah, he’s gonna probably have to go back in tomorrow. We’ll see where we’re at with Sol, but at the end of the day, he did what he had to do.”
By far the most memorable part of the first period came during the first media timeout when a ‘thank you’ video played in the arena to mark the return of Toews. Toews then skated around the ice while fans stood and cheered for their longtime captain during an ovation that lasted several minutes.
Toews tapped his chest to show his gratitude several times and raised his stick during the outpouring before it eventually subsided and play resumed.
Neither team managed to score in the opening 20 minutes, with Chicago squandering a lengthy 5-on-3 and the Jets failing to generate much on a power play of their own. Both teams registered 12 shots on goal.
The second period looked much like the first with the Jets creating more high danger opportunities than Chicago but it stayed 0-0 until the Blackhawks broke the ice at the 13:21 mark.
The play began in the Chicago end and seemed innocuous enough as Ryan Donato sent the puck floating in the air down the ice from his own end. The puck landed in the slot in the Winnipeg zone with Dylan Samberg and Jason Dickinson arriving to the puck around the same time.
But as Samberg tried to knock it away with his stick, Dickinson collected it and whipped a shot that beat Connor Hellebuyck high to open the scoring.
Connor Bedard nearly made it 2-0 late in the period on a power play but Hellebuyck made a sprawling, highlight-reel glove save to take a sure goal away and keep the deficit at one goal heading to the third.
Winnipeg got a third power play at the 6:35 mark of the third but again failed to get much done against one of the top penalty killing units in the NHL.
The Jets pulled Hellebuyck for an extra attacker with less than two minutes to go but Bedard sealed the win into the empty net with 1:20 remaining.
Spencer Knight stopped all 32 shots he faced to earn his third shutout of the season while Hellebuyck was saddled with the loss after making 22 saves.
The Jets will try to get back into the win column Tuesday night when they host St. Louis. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins at 5 p.m. with play-by-play just after 7 p.m.
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