Colliton: Jets ‘play like men’
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Kyle Connor scored twice as the Jets topped the Blackhawks 6-3, sending them to their eighth straight loss Tuesday night.
Connor nearly had another goal late in the second period when Hawks goalie Cam Ward made an arcing glove grab. Mark Scheifele and Tyler Myers each had a goal and assist for the Jets, Mathieu Perreault scored, and Brandon Tanev added an empty-net goal. Former Blackhawk Dustin Byfuglien had three assists.
Dylan Strome, Dominik Kahun and Alex DeBrincat scored for the Hawks. Patrick Kane added two assists, and Ward stopped 28 shots.
“He was amazing for us,” Kane said of Ward. “He had so many big saves, kept us in the hockey game, gave us a chance to win even when you’re down 4-0. So, yeah, we feel like we left him out to dry obviously, which isn’t fair.”
The Hawks also lost eight straight earlier this season, although two of those losses were in overtime. The current slump is
all in regulation time.
“If I had [a reason for it], I would have fixed it already,” Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “Compete harder early on. I thought we were late to almost every situation in the first period, and they have a really good team. They pressure hard, and they make a lot of plays. They play like men out there, and we just couldn’t match it in the beginning, and we paid a price for it.”
The Jets led 3-0 after the first period, but the Hawks came back to make it 4-3 early in the third. They didn’t get their first shot on goal until 17:36 into the game, drawing sarcastic cheers from some fans.
“Pretty embarrassing start,” Kane said.
It was an unusual start for Jets goalie Laurent Brossoit, too.
“I can’t say that I’ve ever been through that much time without a shot,” said Brossoit, who played his eighth game (seventh start) for the Jets and made 32 saves. “It was a bit of a challenge.”
Hawks defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook marked their 1,000th regular-season game together, the most by current NHL teammates and seventh all-time.