The Winnipeg Jets keep finding a way.
Sluggish and disconnected for much of the night, the Jets scored a pair of late goals to knock off the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 Thursday night, setting a franchise record with an eighth consecutive victory.
Neither side could find the back of the net in the opening 20 minutes but the Jets had the bulk of the chances, the best coming off the stick of Gabriel Vilardi after he was sprung in alone but shot the puck into the glove of Petr Mrazek.
Winnipeg carried a 10-6 edge in shots on goal into the second but the middle frame was not one to remember for the Jets, who lost Mark Scheifele to injury in the early going. Scheifele tweaked something in his lower-body and was ruled out for the game almost immediately after going to the dressing room.
Moments later, Chicago opened the scoring when Connor Murphy’s wrist shot from the point beat Laurent Brossoit through a screen at the 4:19 mark.
Winnipeg went over 12 minutes without a shot in the period as Chicago pressed for more but the Jets tried to turn the tide back in the favour in the later minutes, though the Hawks would end up outshooting the Jets 10-6 in the period.
Each side also failed on a pair of power plays in the second as the visitors took the 1-0 lead into the third.
It stayed that way for most of the final period as Winnipeg tried to mount a charge, but Mrazek kept getting in the way, making several great saves to keep his team in front.
But the dam finally burst with 3:29 to go when Adam Lowry got the puck in the corner in Chicago’s end and found Vilardi alone in front, who buried it past Mrazek to tie the game and electrify the sellout crowd.
It got even louder with just over a minute left when Nikolaj Ehlers was sprung into the Chicago zone and buried a low wrister past Mrazek to put the Jets in front with 65 seconds remaining.
The Jets held on from there to secure their eighth straight win and extend their points-streak to 14 games.
Brossoit turned aside 20 shots as he improves to 5-1 in his last six starts. Mrazek made 26 saves in defeat.
Winnipeg will go for a ninth straight win Saturday when they host the Philadelphia Flyers. The game starts just after 6 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starting at 4 p.m.
