Jets take night off; Blackhawks take the win 6-2

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This article was published 30/03/2018 (2724 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CHICAGO — The Winnipeg Jets weren’t just caught in a trap game in Chicago, they were toyed with, chewed up and spit out by the Blackhawks.

Chicago blasted a rather listless, sloppy Winnipeg squad 6-2 at the United Center Thursday, the first of a four-game road swing for the Jets.

The hosts, eliminated from the post-season, had earned just two victories in their previous 10 games and were missing their captain, Winnipegger Jonathan Toews, to an upper-body injury.

They played a kid in goal making his NHL debut and then had to use a beer-leaguer named Scott Foster — a 36-year-old accountant who was kicking pucks out at Johnny’s IceHouse earlier this week — to tend the crease for the final 14 minutes of an NHL regular-season game.

The Jets, meanwhile, are a Top 5 NHL squad with a playoff spot locked up, and blew into the Windy City riding a six-game winning streak.

It was a perfect recipe for the unexpected — a stinker from head coach Paul Maurice’s squad, which departed for Toronto immediately after the game and will take Good Friday off before playing the Maple Leafs on Saturday. The trip continues Monday when the Jets face the Ottawa Senators and wraps up Tuesday with a meeting with the Montreal Canadiens.

Slow feet, botched defensive assignments, a lack of offensive zip and mediocre goaltending killed the Jets,

“There wouldn’t really be a piece to the game that was at the level we’ve played at — or a level you need to play at — to have a chance to win in the NHL. I don’t think it’s any one thing,” said Maurice. “The mental part of our game is to play at a certain rate, a certain pace, and we were well off that.

“We weren’t very good tonight. We’ve been good. Nobody is getting on the plane in a good mood, but it won’t be part of our (preparation) for the next game.”

Winnipeg, second in the Central Division, fell to 47-20-10, while Chicago upped its record to 32-36-10. The Blackhawks, last in the division, won’t qualify for the post-season for the first time since the 2007-08 NHL season, which was also Toews’ rookie season.

It might well have been Chicago’s most memorable victory of a long, trying 2017-18 campaign.

The team honoured long-tenured blue-liner Brent Seabrook, a three-time Stanley Cup winner, prior to his 1,000th NHL game.

The Blackhawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad, and led 5-2 after the second. Six minutes into the final frame, a scene unfolded from hockey’s bizarro world.

Making his NHL debut was goalie Collin Delia, who beat the Manitoba Moose earlier in the week playing for the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. He was in because the guy pegged to start, Anton Forsberg, got hurt before the warm-up.

But Delia started cramping up and couldn’t continue, opening the door for Foster, who had signed an amateur tryout contract just minutes before the game.

The Sarnia, Ont., product plays in a couple of rec leagues in Chicago. Hockeydb.com indicates he played the 2002-03 season at Western Michigan University and another game three years later at the same school.

Foster stopped all seven shots directed his way, including a pair of point drives from Tyler Myers, a hard shot from Dustin Byfuglien and a quick release from Patrik Laine.

Laine has been stuck on 43 goals for five games now.

‘Hawks fans went absolutely crazy, chanting his name after he stopped Paul Stastny from in tight.

“I’m going to remember this one for a long time,” said Foster. “I’m an accountant by day. So, a few hours ago I was sitting on my computer typing on the 10-key, and now I’m standing in front of you guys just finished 14-and-a-half minutes of NHL hockey.

“I think I’m just about hitting my prime.”

He’s one of a handful of goaltenders on call in every NHL city to fill in when required — which almost never happens.

“The initial shock happened when I had to dress. And then I think you just kind of black out after that,” said the father of two. “This is something that no one can ever take away from me. It’s something I can go home and tell my kids and they can tell their friends and whatnot. Just a ton of fun and a lot of good memories.

“You know, it’s funny. You think there’d be a lot of pressure. But really, tomorrow, I’m going to wake up I’m going to button up my shirt and I’m going to go back to my day job. What pressure is there for me?”

The Blackhawks made a concerted effort to clog up the shooting lanes, finishing with nine blocked shots in the third.

“Nothing against the goalie, but you want to get as many shots as you can on him and test him early. Any goalie coming in the third period is going to be cold, so you want to get shots. For us, we were trying to force it maybe a little too much,” said Jets centre Bryan Little, who scored his 16th. It was the 200th of his NHL career.

“You can tell they tightened up (defensively) and were helping him a bit. They were getting in the way of a lot of shots, getting sticks on them, so it was just one of those nights.

“It was just one of those nights where we just tried to do a bit too much offensively and (the Blackhawks) thrive on those turnovers. With the mistakes that we made, we didn’t give Comrie a lot of help,” he said. “It’s a wakeup call.”

Mark Scheifele fired his 23rd tally for Winnipeg.

Tomas Jurco scored a pair of goals for Chicago, while Erik Gustafsson and Alex DeBrincat added singles.

“We just weren’t prepared to play the game,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler. “You know, hopefully, we put this one behind us and get prepared for the next one.”

Winnipeg’s start was a strong indicator of the way the night would go.

Kane took advantage of a dubious pinch by Byfuglien, who missed both the puck and his man. The slick winger darted down the left side and snapped a shot through the five-hole on Comrie at 3:44, his 28th goal of the season.

“He came in and made a pretty good shot. I didn’t think he was going to go five-hole, obviously, and it went in. I was kind of expecting the back-door pass, didn’t play it right,” said Comrie, who finished with 36 saves.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell