INSTANT ANALYSIS: Flat Start, Quick Goals Down Blackhawks in Winnipeg

The Blackhawks fell to the Jets on Friday night in a game that head coach Jeremy Colliton said was "nowhere close" to the effort level his team needed to be competitive.
"Right from the start we weren't ready to play," Colliton said. "It snowballed. They got the second one and it was an uphill battle… Overall we weren't at the level we expect to be, and that's a good a team. We just weren't at their level. There's not much (else) to say."
"Each guy has to look within himself and take this as a challenge and take it personal, because this isn't fun where we're at right now," Connor Murphy said after the game. " It takes everyone having accountability together and wanting to win your shift and make a play, not just for yourself but for your teammate, your goalie and for the best of the team."

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI at WPG
RECAP: Early Deficit Insurmountable in Loss to Winnipeg 
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks at Jets
GALLERY: Blackhawks at Jets

FLAT START

The Blackhawks fell behind before the first TV timeout for the sixth time in 12 games on Friday night, allowing the Jets to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the game's opening minute and doubling it 96 seconds later. Down a pair early, the rest of the night was spent chasing the game.
"Tonight, we didn't give ourselves a chance," Colliton said. "We know we can play well. We've got to play well for 60 minutes. If you do that, you can win the hockey game. That's got to be the standard. Tonight was, in most all areas, was not the level we need to win."
"It's not good," Murphy said. "The starts are important to every game and we haven't done a good enough job with that in a lot of the games. Tonight was a big one."

QUICK STRIKES

Aside from the slow start, Winnipeg found goals in pairs to skate to victory on Friday night, striking twice within a 1:36 span to take the 2-0 lead early and again in the second in a 1:29 span to double it to 4-0 in the second.
Allowing difference-making goals in short order has been an issue for the Blackhawks this season, but especially in the last two weeks, Friday being the fourth such game in that span.
On Wednesday night, Carolina scored the game-tying and game-winning goals just 3:07 apart to complete the comeback at the United Center. In the meeting between the two in North Carolina, the Hurricanes scored 15 seconds apart to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead in the first period and later put the game away with goals 2:33 apart in the second to go up 6-2. Against Detroit on Oct. 24, three tallies in a 4:57 span allowed the Wings to take over the game 4-1 early and never look back.

ROSTER SHUFFLE

Colliton and the Blackhawks coaching staff were forced to make a trio of lineup moves for Friday's contest due to COVID-19 restrictions in Canada.
Riley Stillman and Jujhar Khaira didn't meet the country's border-crossing requirements after only being removed from COVID Protocol on Tuesday. Neither did Henrik Borgstrom who was removed from protocol on Wednesday, but did not dress in the game against Carolina. With only five active defensemen on the roster, Chicago recalled Nicolas Beaudin from Rockford, but was forced to send down Reese Johnson in a return move to make room on the 23-man roster.
"We have the guys we were able to bring," Colliton said before the game. "Khaira and Stillman, couldn't come. We had to send Reese down so that we could call up a defenseman."
In turn, Adam Gaudette and Dylan Strome, who were healthy scratches on Wednesday, drew into the lineup along with Beaudin as the Blackhawks used all 18 skaters available for the game in the loss.
Strome led the trio, skating 15:57 of ice time with a shot on goal, a blocked shot, a takeaway and a 6-for-12 record on the faceoff dot. Gaudette skated 11:30 of ice time with a shot and two hits. Beaudin logged 11:08 of time with a shot and a blocked shot as well.