Blackhawks dominate Jets in Toews homecoming Saturday, 11.02.2013 / 6:00 PM Patrick Williams - NHL Correspondent WINNIPEG -- The Chicago Blackhawks made Jonathan Toews a happy captain in his return to his hometown Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets. After letting the Jets hang around in the first period, the Blackhawks ripped apart a 1-1 game and blitzed the Jets for three goals in 4:55 on their way to a 5-1 win. Chicago (9-2-3) has won three consecutive games. Winnipeg (5-8-2) has lost three in a row and has one win in its past seven. Toews was scoreless playing his first NHL regular-season game in Winnipeg before a large group of family and friends at MTS Centre. It brings it all back, Toews said beforehand of playing a 15-minute drive from where he spent his childhood. Just to be back here and think about where I grew up and all of the rinks that I grew up playing hockey at. Now that there is an NHL team back here, to be playing at this level is a pretty special thing. Niklas Hjalmarsson scored his first goal of the season for Chicago to counter one by Winnipegs Tobias Enstrom in the first period. Second-period goals from Brandon Bollig, Patrick Sharp and Nick Leddy chased Winnipeg goalie Ondrej Pavelec, and Ben Smith added a goal midway through the third. Al Montoya finished in relief of Pavelec, whom the Jets pulled from a game for the first time since last season, a 6-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on March 22. Pavelec stopped 10 of 14 Chicago shots; Montoya turned aside 10 of 11. Patrick Kane had a third-period penalty shot he failed to convert against Montoya. Corey Crawford made 26 saves for the Blackhawks, and Marcus Kruger had two assists. Chicago owned the Leagues fifth-best offense, producing 3.31 goals per game, and the Blackhawks exposed a thin Jets defense in the second period. Winnipeg faced Chicago without Paul Postma, Mark Stuart and Jacob Trouba (all injured). The Jets recalled Ben Chiarot and Julian Melchiori from the American Hockey League earlier in the week and claimed Los Angeles Kings defenseman Keaton Ellerby off waivers three hours before the game. Ellerby did not arrive in time, but Chiarot, a third-year pro, made his NHL debut and played 10:47. Slow starts have hampered the Jets this season, but Enstrom put them up 1-0 on their third shot. Enstrom unleashed a long, skipping shot from the left point that clipped a stick in front of the Chicago net and snuck past Crawford at 5:08. Enstroms goal was the fourth time in 15 games the Jets scored first. The Jets penalty kill survived a 21-second 5-on-3 halfway through the first period, but Hjalmarsson directed a heavy shot from the left point that beat Pavelec low at 9:58, one second after Winnipeg killed off the power play in full. Chicago took a 2-1 lead 54 seconds into the second period when Bollig and Kruger headed up a 2-on-1 rush after Winnipeg defenseman Adam Pardys ill-timed pinch. Bollig cut into the left circle before beating Pavelec with a low shot. Sharp built a two-goal lead 1:47 later when Marian Hossas long outlet pass reached him, sending him on a breakaway he converted with a move around Pavelec for his third of the season. Leddy scored at 5:49, taking a puck that trickled out to the top of the left circle and tearing a shot through a screen that eluded Pavelec and ended the goaltenders afternoon. Smith made the score 5-1 with 10:47 left, using a shot from the left boards that trickled through Montoyas pads.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 23:19:30 +0000