CHICAGO (AP) 鈥 Blake Wheeler scored early in the second period, David Rittich stopped 22 shots and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Friday night for their fourth straight win.
Cole Perfetti and Adam Lowry also scored and defenseman Josh Morrissey had two assists to help the Jets win for the seventh time in eight games to move back into first place in the Central Division ahead of idle Dallas.
鈥溾楻itter鈥 made some big saves when it was 2-0, 2-1,鈥 Lowry said of the Jets鈥 backup goalie. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to look for that to continue.鈥
Morrissey regained the team scoring lead with 30 points as the Jets outskated the Blackhawks to a majority of loose pucks, contributing to their 32-23 advantage in shots.
鈥淭o put up the numbers he鈥檚 putting up is pretty impressive,鈥 Perfetti said. 鈥淗e makes it pretty easy out here.
"We played our game and it worked,鈥 Perfetti added. 鈥淧laying the right way, we can鈥檛 be trading chances. What we did tonight worked to our advantage.鈥
Taylor Raddysh scored midway through the second period as the Blackhawks avoided a third straight shutout. Arvid Soderblom finished with 29 saves in Chicago鈥檚 11th loss in 12 games.
鈥淲e just seemed not engaged in the first period, and if you do that, you鈥檙e going to be behind the 8-ball,鈥 Chicago coach Luke Richardson said.
Perfetti took Morrissey鈥檚 feed and beat Soderblom from the slot after dancing past defenseman Ian Mitchell with 4:39 left in the first. It was Perfetti鈥檚 sixth of the season.
鈥淲e really liked our first period,鈥 Winnipeg assistant coach Scott Arniel said, speaking instead of head coach Rick Bowness. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 spend a lot of time in our end.鈥
Early in the second period, Morrissey set up Wheeler, who slapped a puck between Soderblom鈥檚 legs for a 2-0 lead at 56 seconds. It was Wheeler鈥檚 ninth.
Raddysh scored his eighth to get the Blackhawks on the scoreboard with just under 9 minutes left in the second with a wrist shot Rittich couldn鈥檛 handle. It ended Chicago鈥檚 scoring drought of 169 minutes, 50 seconds.
Lowry capped the scoring with his sixth with 7:35 left in the third.
鈥淲e were able to create some good chances and lock it down,鈥 Lowry said.
The Jets played the last 50 minutes without defenseman Logan Stanley, who fell awkwardly into the boards in the first period. He will be evaluated Saturday.
TINORDI RETURNS
Chicago D Jarred Tinordi came off the injured reserve list an hour before the game, playing a limited number of shifts in the early going after taking a skate blade to the face, but eventually seeing penalty-killing duty. Tinordi had missed the previous five games with a hip injury.
UP NEXT
Winnipeg: Hosts Washington on Sunday.
Chicago: Hosts Washington on Tuesday.
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