Blackhawks blown out again in 5-1 loss, have dropped 11 of 12
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers each had a goal and had an assist, and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Blackhawks 5-1 on Friday night.
Paul Stastny, Neal Pionk and Dominic Toninato also scored in Winnipeg's fourth straight home win. Andrew Copp assisted on 3 goals for the Jets, who have posted their best start to a regular season (6-2-2) in the team's modern era.
"You want to be as big of a part of the team (as possible)," Copp said. "I think we've had a great group here for a long time, it feels like. We've added some pieces this year that feel like we round out the group pretty good, so we take a lot of ownership in how we play and how we perform."
Eric Comrie stopped 16 shots, losing a bid for his first career shutout on MacKenzie Entwistle's short-handed goal in the opening minute of the third period.
"It would be cool, it would be my first NHL shutout, something I'm looking forward to," Comrie said. "I'd be crazy to say it's not going through my mind ... but I'm just trying to focus on the moment and play, focus on the process."
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves as the Blackhawks lost for the 11th time in 12 games (1-9-2).
"It's been hard on the players, the stretch we've been going through," Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We've had some good performances we haven't gotten rewarded for, and it weighs on you. There's no excuse. We can't give ourselves a chance to win when you have the type of performance that we did tonight. But all we can do is move onto the next one and come out with energy and compete level and do a better job."
Stastny finished a three-way passing sequence with Copp and Ehlers just 47 seconds after the opening faceoff to get Winnipeg on the scoreboard first.
Pionk beat Fleury with a booming shot from the faceoff dot for a power-play goal at 2:23.
The Blackhawks thought a power-play goal had pulled them within a goal early in the second, but Ryan Carpenter's effort was negated when the Jets successfully challenged for offside on the play.
Toninato earned his first goal by deking Fleury on a feed from Copp with 6:12 remaining in the second to make it 3-0.
It's been a rough start all around for the Hawks. What do they need to do to improve?
"I don't know if there's an answer for something specific, defenseman Connor Murphy said. "We need to play for each other more, play with more pride, play with more confidence, play with more energy. Just (play) for each other is the biggest thing we can do."
Each guy (when) we're on the ice, win our shifts. We're not doing that.
Ehlers scored his third of the season late in the third after Entwistle's shot from a difficult angle surprised Comrie less than a minute into the period.