Kyle Connor is the overtime hero as the Jets pull to within one point of a wildcard spot

The Jets had a great team effort on the road against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, winning 4-2. After a few days off for the Jets they played tonight in Chicago against the Blackhawks. The Jets entered Tuesday afternoon just three points out of a wildcard spot, with just nine games to go. The 31-30-12 Jets took on the 27-34-13 Blackhawks, a division rival who’s on the verge of being officially eliminated from playoff contention.

The Jets line combinations looked almost the same as last game. With Morgan Barron out with a concussion, Adam Lowry moved up to the 2nd line centre position. Cole Koepke and Brad Lambert moved up to the 3rd line with Jonathan Toews. Isak Rosen, Danny Zhilkin and Parker Ford formed the 4th line. With Neal Pionk back in the lineup, the defense pairings are now Josh Morrissey with Dylan DeMelo, Dylan Samberg with Pionk, and tonight Jacob Bryson with Elias Salomonsson.

After a second straight quality start against the Avalanche, Connor Hellebuyck got the start in goal. The Jets lineup still has four players out due to injuries: Morgan Barron, Colin Miller, Nino Niederreiter and Vladislav Namestnikov. Hellebuyck entered tonight’s game with a 19-20-11 record, a 2.80 GAA and a .899 SV%. Tonight’s game started with an early lead from the Blackhawks. The Jets took a 3-1 lead at one point, but this game went to overtime before the Jets secured a massive two points on the road.

1st Period

Tonight’s game began with a few chances for each team, before the Blackhawks opened the scoring just before the five minute mark. Anton Frondell, the 3rd overall pick from the 2025 NHL Draft, scored his first career NHL goal. Louis Crevier and Ilya Mikheyev set up Frondell in the slot for a snap shot that went past an unset Hellebuyck.

The next stretch of play following the opening goal went by rather quickly. Shots on goal with 5 minutes left in the 1st were 6-5 Blackhawks, as the Jets continued to look for their opening goal. The Blackhawks got a few late chances, and this 1st period ended with the Blackhawks leading 1-0. No penalties were taken by either team in the opening frame.

2nd Period

The 2nd period started with a very early game tying goal from Josh Morrissey. Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor set up Morrissey near the point, and Morrissey made a great individual effort by going to the outside and getting past one defender before cutting to the net and scoring on the backhand for his 13th goal of the season.

This goal gave the Jets the energy they needed to get right back in this game. The Jets got the next few scoring chances, before the Blackhawks took the first penalty of the night near the halfway point of the 2nd. With not much time left on the powerplay, Mark Scheifele deflected a pass from the Blackhawks, eventually leading to a 2 on 1 for the Jets. Alex Iafallo found Cole Perfetti on a one timer for his 12th goal of the season, giving the Jets a 2-1 lead.

The Jets kept rolling after this powerplay goal, scoring just 38 seconds later. After a Jets offensive faceoff win, Neal Pionk and Danny Zhilkin (who picked up his first career point) set up Isak Rosen in front for his 5th goal of the season.

The goals in the 2nd period kept coming, as less than two minutes later the Blackhawks made it a one goal game. A turnover in the Jets zone was picked up by Tyler Bertuzzi, and he shot the puck past Hellebuyck on the backhand after a spin move. Bertuzzi 30th goal of the season tied his career high, and made this a 3-2 hockey game.

The game began to settle down after the 3rd goal in less than two minutes. No other goals or penalties happened in the final six minutes of the 2nd. The Jets took a 3-2 lead into the 3rd period, and they heavily outshot the Blackhawks 15-2 in the 2nd period. Shots on goal with 20 minutes to play were 21-11 Jets.

3rd Period

The early part of the 3rd saw the Blackhawks come out with some momentum now down again by just one goal. Cole Perfetti took a holding penalty with 16 minutes left. One minute later, Cole Koepke was called for tripping, giving the Blackhawks around a minute of 5 on 3 time. The Jets were successful in killing off both penalties without too many chances against them.

The Blackhawks continued to push for the tying goal after the powerplays, and they were able to tie this game with just over 10 minutes remaining. Louis Crevier sent the puck around the boards to Ilya Mikheyev, who quickly found Bertuzzi in front, and he buried his 2nd of the game and 31st of the season (a new career high) from in close to tie this game 3-3.

The Jets needed a response after this tying goal, and they only had one shot on goal in the 3rd with seven minutes to go. With the game still tied, teams shifted to that “next goal wins” mentality, resulting in a more controlled ending to regulation. This game had its share of momentum swings, but after 60 minutes played it was still 3-3. Shots on goal were 10-2 for Chicago in the 3rd, but the Jets continued to lead in total shots on goal slightly, 23-21.

Overtime

This was a very quick overtime, as Kyle Connor scored the game winner just 33 seconds into the extra frame. After the Jets re-gained possession, Josh Morrissey gave the puck to Mark Scheifele. After going out wide, Scheifele sent the puck across to Kyle Connor in front and he made no mistake with his finish, scoring his 34th goal of the season. The Jets picked up another big two points with a 4-3 overtime win, scoring on the only shot on goal in overtime.

With this win, the Jets are now just a single point behind the Nashville Predators for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference. The standings are still very close between the three or four teams chasing the Predators, so it’s going to be an exciting playoff race for the Jets with eight games remaining in the 2025-26 regular season.

Up Next

Following the third straight away game on this road trip, the Jets will reset for a day before concluding their four game road trip. Their regular season schedule continues on Thursday in Dallas with a tough test against the Stars. Puck drop for this game will be just after 7:00 pm CDT. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for all of the latest Jets news (including the latest playoff odds), plus previews and recaps on each Jets game this season.

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