Blackhawks Cruise to 4-1 Victory Over Jets
CHICAGO (AP) — Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane scored in the first period, leading the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night.
The Blackhawks also got goals from Brandon Pirri and Patrick Sharp in their fourth win in five games. Corey Crawford made 24 saves and defenseman Duncan Keith had two assists.
Winnipeg forward Michael Frolik received a standing ovation when he was recognized during a break in the first period in his first game in Chicago since he helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in June. Frolik, who played a pivotal role on Chicago's penalty-kill unit last season, was traded to the Jets for draft picks at the beginning of the offseason.
Frolik stood in front of the Winnipeg bench and waved as the crowd cheered after the Blackhawks showed some of his highlights from the playoffs last season.
With the game in hand with 6:22 left in the third, Blackhawks forward Brandon Bollig got a big cheer from the sellout crowd when he drove Jets defenseman Adam Pardy through a glass panel in Winnipeg's end of the ice.
Pardy then was leaning over the boards and into the crowd when a fan took his helmet off and put it on. A woman also dumped her beer on Pardy before the officials were able to break up the scrum.
Devin Setoguchi scored his third goal for the Jets in the third period of his 400th career game, and Al Montoya had 24 stops in his second career game in his native Chicago.
It was the Blackhawks' second convincing victory over the Jets in five days. Chicago won 5-1 in Winnipeg on Saturday.
The Blackhawks grabbed control at the end of the first, jumping ahead 2-0 in a span of 2:25 while bouncing back from Sunday's 3-2 overtime loss to Calgary.
Toews provided a spark for Chicago when he set up Kane with a nice spinning pass on a 2-on-1. Kane was stopped by Montoya, but Toews skated around to the front of the net, got a pass from Sharp and stuffed it home at 17:29.
Kane then skated through much of Winnipeg's end before beating Montoya with a wrist shot for his team-best ninth goal of the season with 6 seconds left in the first.
Pirri added his third goal on a breakaway in the second, and Sharp made it 4-0 when he beat Montoya on the glove side at 4:00 in the third period.
Crawford was working on his first shutout of the season before Setoguchi scored on a rebound at 8:40 of the third. Former Blackhawks defenseman Dustin Byfuglien got an assist on the play.
NOTES: Jets LW Evander Kane missed his second straight game with an unspecified injury. D Zach Redmond also was scratched. ... Fs Michal Handzus, Jeremy Morin and Brad Mills were scratched for the Blackhawks. Handzus has missed six straight games with an upper-body injury. ... It was Winnipeg's first game in Chicago since a 4-3 loss to the Blackhawks on Oct. 13, 2011.
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