Beaulieu's first goal of season lifts Jets past Blackhawks

WINNIPEG -- Nathan Beaulieu scored his first goal of the season at 1:36 of the third period to help the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Bell MTS Place on Sunday.

Beaulieu and Mason Appleton each had a goal and an assist, and Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves for the Jets (30-25-5), who are 5-2-1 in their past eight games and moved within one point of the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"Obviously it wasn't the prettiest goal I've ever scored, but it was a big one," Beaulieu said. "That game] was a grinder for us. We knew how important that win was for us, just the points in the standings. It wasn't our best game, but you've got to win those games at important, key times."
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Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist and Corey Crawford made 35 saves for the Blackhawks (26-25-8), who have one win in their past seven games (1-4-2) and finished 1-4-0 on their five-game road trip through Western Canada.
"I thought overall we played pretty hard," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "It was a pretty even game. Ultimately, I think the difference was they scored three goals on point shots, got traffic and gave themselves a chance to get a bounce. We had our chances to tie it up, but we need to find a way to generate some of those goals ourselves, especially in these types of games that are going to be this tight."
Beaulieu broke a tie when he one-timed Patrik Laine's feed from the right point. The puck redirected off Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat's stick and past Crawford to give Winnipeg a 3-2 lead.
"They collapsed so low that we had points open," Jets forward Blake Wheeler said. "On the first two goals, especially, we got some guys to the net and got some tips on it."
Ryan Carpenter gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 15:44 of the first period, but Appleton tied it 1-1 at 6:38 of the second.

Roslovic gave the Jets a 2-1 lead at 15:37 of the second.
"I think we got a lot of speed on that line," Appleton said of new linemates Roslovic and Jansen Harkins. "We play a simple game. We can make reads off each other and stay at our top speed, and that's when we're effective."
Kane tied it 2-2 with 53 seconds remaining in the second period.
"I thought [Crawford] played great for us," Kane said. "Made some big saves. Kind of an unfortunate goal at the end there for them, but I still think we had some chances at the end to tie it up."

They said it

"No question, disappointing to not have more points from the trip. Ultimately, we had three games that were acceptable and two that weren't good enough. We need more than that to get the points we need, so we'll have a couple days to regroup, get some practice in and we need to obviously establish that we're going to get some points at home. We've got a lot of home games the rest of the way." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"It's just a matter of getting pucks to the point and then getting bodies to the net and around the net. Our first two goals were virtually the same exact picture; third goal was another point shot. It's just a matter of how they defend, how we get pucks up to the point and how we get them through." -- Jets forward Mason Appleton

Need to know

There were no penalties called in the game. … Kane has 27 points (seven goals, 20 assists) in his past 19 games. … Toews has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past five games. … Laine has nine points (seven goals, two assists) in his past nine games.

What's next

Blackhawks: Host the New York Rangers on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN)
Jets: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-W, NHL.TV)