The Jets jumped out to another super early lead on Sunday afternoon, before losing 2-1 in overtime on the road in San Jose against the Sharks. Both goalies played great, but it was the Sharks who handed the Jets their 2nd straight overtime loss. Tonight, the Jets played their first of eight straight home games at Canada Life Centre over the next two weeks. We’re now just under three days before the NHL trade deadline, and Jets fans continue to wonder what the team will do on and before deadline day. The 23-26-10 Jets took on the 23-28-9 Blackhawks, a team that’s struggling lately, going just 2-6-2 in their last 10 games.

There were no changes to the Jets line combinations tonight, as they travelled home from San Jose with the same lineup. Walker Duehr stayed on the 3rd line with Jonathan Toews and Gustav Nyquist. Tanner Pearson remained on the 4th line with Cole Koepke and Morgan Barron. Logan Stanley is still on the top pairing with Dylan DeMelo while Morrissey gets closer to returning, and Haydn Fleury and Luke Schenn remained as the 3rd pairing.

Connor Hellebuyck got another start in goal, as Hellebuyck made his third start since returning the Olympics. The Jets lineup continues to deal with several injuries, including Nino Niederreiter, who was recently declared out for the rest of the season. Hellebuyck entered tonight’s game with 13-16-9 record, a 2.82 GAA and a .900 SV%. Tonight’s game once again started well for the Jets, but it took a late game tying goal and a OT winner in the 4th straight Jets game with OT for the Jets to pick up the two points at home.

Tonight’s game started with an early Jets goal for the 3rd straight game. Kyle Connor worked the puck into the Blackhawks zone and dropped the puck back to Mark Scheifele. Dylan Samberg was cutting towards the goal, and Scheifele found him near the faceoff dot. Samberg fired a wrist shot that went past Spencer Knight for his first goal of the season.

Less than a minute before this goal, both teams took a penalty just 13 seconds apart, resulting in this being a four on four goal. The next portion of the 1st period was rather uneventful, and after 10 minutes the shots on goal were only 4-2 for the Jets.

Teams played cautiously for parts of the first, and with just over 2 minutes to go Gabriel Vilardi took an accidental looking double minor penalty for high-sticking. Shots on goal were still just 6-3 for the Jets, so this late chance for the Blackhawks was an opportunity for them to get their attack going. Less than a minute into double minor, Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar set up Teuvo Teravainen in the slot for a wrist shot that went up and past Hellebuyck to tie this game late in the first.

Because the Blackhawks scored within the first two minutes of the double minor, the “second” powerplay started after this goal. The Jets reset and stopped the Blackhawks from taking the lead before the first period ended. Shots on goal after 20 minutes were just 6-4 for the Jets, but the pace of the play continued to pick up as the game went on.

The 2nd period picked up where the 1st left off in terms of pace, and the Jets killed off the rest of the double minor. Both teams still weren’t managing to get many shots on goal, and at the halfway point of this game the Blackhawks held a slight 11-8 lead for shots on target.

Both teams continued to battle for the go-ahead goal, but Spencer Knight and Connor Hellebuyck were sharp through 40 minutes despite limited saves. No penalties were taken in the 2nd by both teams, and the shots on goal were now 14-13 for the Blackhawks. The rest of the game stats were pretty even at this point as well, and it looked like another situation where the Jets were in for an  “anyone’s game” final 20 minutes in the 3rd period.

The 3rd period didn’t exactly start how the Jets would’ve liked. Sam Rinzel dumped the puck in behind the net, and Connor Bedard collected the puck along the boards. Bedard found Ryan Greene who was trailing behind him, and he fired a wicked wrister that went up past Hellebuyck for his 8th goal of the season.

About two minutes later, Connor Bedard was called for hooking on Dylan Samberg. The Jets made a push for the tying goal on this powerplay, but were unable to get one past Spencer Knight. With 10 minutes to go, the urgency from the Jets increased, and it resulted in them getting a few more scoring chances.

With time running down, it was looking like the Jets were about to lose their third straight game by one goal, this time without earning a point. If the Jets wanted to go to a fourth straight overtime, they would need a strong final push once they went 6 on 5. The Jets got the next bunch of shots on goal, and soon after they sent Hellebuyck to the bench with just under 2 minutes to go.

Spencer Knight made a pair of nice saves, and the Jets took their timeout with 46 seconds remaining. After a face off won by the Jets, Logan Stanley controlled and found Mark Scheifele. Cole Perfetti was headed towards the slot, and Scheifele found Perfetti, who turned around and fired a wrist shot that fooled Knight to tie this game at two with 39 seconds left.

The Jets were headed to overtime for their 4th straight game after a fantastic late game effort, as the Jets outshot the Blackhawks 17-6 in the 3rd. Final shots on goal through 60 minutes were 30-20 Jets, and now the home fans were ready for some 3 on 3 hockey.

After back-to-back overtime losses, this time the Jets were victorious. The Jets got the only two shots on goal in overtime, and with 3 minutes to go, Mark Scheifele sent the fans home happy at Canada Life Centre. Dylan Samberg spun around after intercepting a pass and found Scheifele who just came on to the ice into the zone. Scheifele fired a wrister that went over the glove of Knight to give the Jets a 3-2 overtime win.

The Jets battled hard this game to get it to overtime, and they were rewarded with their strong late game play with the two points. This was the Jets 4th straight game that needed 5 minutes of 3 on 3, so they’ve had a lot of recent practice. It was a great team win for the Jets, who begin this long home stand with a well earned positive result.

The Jets will now reset for a day, before continuing their season-long eight game homestand (from March 3rd to 17th) on Thursday night. Their regular season schedule continues at Canada Life Centre with a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Puck drop for this game will be again just after 7:00 pm CST. Stay tuned here at Jets Nation for all of the latest Jets news (including the upcoming trade deadline on Friday), plus previews and recaps on each Jets game this season.