A game that featured Patrick Kane's four-point effort, Alex Nylander's first goal in more than a month and a terrific outing by Robin Lehner might be remembered for something far worse.
Kane had a goal and three assists, Nylander scored 59 seconds into the game and Lehner stopped 36 shots to lead the Blackhawks to a 4-1 victory over the Jets on Thursday night at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba. But Hawks forward Brandon Saad left the game with what could be a serious injury.
Saad left midway through the second period after falling awkwardly following a clean hit into the boards by Luca Sbisa. The Hawks announced he would not return because of a right ankle injury.
The Hawks continued to impress in the second of back-to-back games, winning for the seventh time in eight tries. They improved to 14-16-6 overall.
The Hawks took the early lead when Kane chased down the puck and sent a cross-ice pass to Nylander, whose hustle put him in position to snap the puck past Connor Hellebuyck for his fifth goal of the season.
The Hawks didn't get their first shot on goal in the second period until the 7:29 mark and were outshot 14-3 in the period. Lehner twice moved post to post in the second to deny Kyle Connor from tying the game.
The Hawks took a 2-0 lead in the opening minute of the third period on Dominik Kubalik's ninth goal. Kane stole the puck as the Jets were about to leave their zone and fed it to Kubalik, who slipped the puck through Hellebuyck's legs.
Tucker Poolman cut the lead to one early in the third, but a few minutes later Erik Gustafsson scored his fourth goal of the season _ and first in his last 15 games _ to make it 3-1.
Kane added his 19th goal in the final minutes to give him the 12th four-point game of his career and leave him 18 shy of reaching 1,000 career points.
