Copp scores winner with 4:45 left, Jets top Blackhawks 2-1
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Andrew Copp scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:45 left, Bryan Little got his third goal in three games and the Winnipeg Jets edged the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Sunday night.
Copp beat Scott Darling on the stick side with a shot from the right circle that slipped just inside the left post.
Chicago's Artemi Panarin scored with 6:54 remaining to tie it at 1, moments after Copp hit the post, to spoil Connor Hellebuyck's bid for a second shutout against Chicago in less than a month. Panarin completed a give-and-go with Patrick Kane, beating Hellebuyck to the glove side.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hellebuyck finished with 25 saves and outdueled Darling, who started his second straight game for the Blackhawks in place of No. 1 goalie Corey Crawford. Darling made 30 saves, including three on breakaways.
Little's power-play goal with 43.4 seconds left in the second period was his fourth point in four games since missing 23 with a lower-body injury.
Hellebuyck made 27 saves in the Jets' 4-0 win over the Blackhawks on Nov. 15 in Winnipeg.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Crawford underwent an emergency appendectomy in Philadelphia on Saturday and is expected to miss two to three weeks. Lars Johansson, recalled by Chicago earlier Sunday from Rockford of the American Hockey League, was Darling's backup.
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews sat out his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury that coach Joel Quenneville said is "not getting better."
Quenneville said Toews skated briefly Sunday morning, but he plans to "keep him off the ice for a few days and get a better assessment in the middle of the week or so."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Winnipeg's leading scorer, center Mark Scheifele, missed his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury. Scheifele has 13 goals and 13 assists in 26 games.
Neither team had a prime scoring chance in a tentative first period, but the game opened up in the second.
Darling stopped Nikolaj Ehlers on a breakaway with a glove save at 8:32, then made a pad stop on Adam Lowry when he skated in alone with 4:20 left in the period.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chicago's Artem Anisimov missed on a rebound attempt of Marian Hossa's drive 3:40 into the second. Just under 4 minutes later, Dennis Rasmussen sent the puck through the crease behind Hellebuyck and in front of an open net.
Little finally connected for his power-play goal on a sweet backhand tip to put the Jets ahead 1-0.
After Kane was sent off for hooking former Blackhawk Dustin Byfuglien, Little got open just to the left of the crease. He tapped Byfuglien's pinpoint feed from the top of the right circle under Darling's right pad.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After serving an interference penalty, Byfuglien took a pass from Blake Wheeler and broke in alone, but Darling stopped him at 7:25 and Wheeler fired the rebound over the net.
The Jets hung on at the end after Jacob Trouba got a double-minor penalty for high sticking with 2:49 remaining.
Hellebuyck came up with six saves during the final flurry, including a point-blank stop on Hossa with seconds left.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NOTES: Crawford returned with the Blackhawks following their 3-1 loss at Philadelphia on Saturday after his appendectomy earlier in the day. . The 29-year-old Johansson backstopped Frolunda HC to a Swedish championship in 2016 and is playing his first season in North America. To make roster room for him, the Blackhawks assigned 20-year-old rookie forward Nick Schmaltz to Rockford. ... Blackhawks D Trevor van Riemsdyk (upper body), activated from injured reserve on Friday, didn't dress. Fellow defenseman Michal Rozsival was a healthy scratch. . Jets C Mark Stuart and LW Kyle Connor were scratched.
UP NEXT
Jets: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Blackhawks: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.