- 1 Chicago Blackhawks vs Winnipeg Jets: life after Hellebuyck meets the NHL’s leakiest defence
- 2 Winnipeg Jets: three straight wins, but 3.89 goals conceded per road game
- 3 Chicago Blackhawks: 1-8-1 in ten and Patrick Kane on injured reserve
- 4 Free NHL Prediction: Chicago Blackhawks vs Winnipeg Jets
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Chicago Blackhawks vs Winnipeg Jets: life after Hellebuyck meets the NHL’s leakiest defence 
Winnipeg traded Connor Hellebuyck to New Jersey on October 23. The man now carrying the Jets’ net is Stuart Skinner, signed as a free agent on July 1, and his numbers across 13 appearances read 6-4-3, a 3.26 goals-against average and a .883 save percentage.
Against most teams that would be a real concern for Winnipeg. Against Chicago it matters less. The Blackhawks score 2.17 goals per game, 31st in the league, and their power play has converted 5 of 51 chances.
This is a matinee at the United Center on Saturday November 14, puck drop 3:30pm ET. It’s the back half of a two-game Winnipeg road trip that opens in Dallas on Thursday.
The Jets come in at 7-8-3 with 17 points, sixth in the Central. They’ve won three straight, and that run followed seven games without a win that bottomed out with a 7-0 loss in Carolina on November 1. Before Saturday they also host New Jersey on Tuesday night, Hellebuyck included.
Chicago are last in the Central at 4-13-1, nine points from 18 games. They haven’t won in six, five of those in regulation, and the latest was a 9-2 loss in Carolina on November 7.
One result cuts the other way. The Blackhawks beat Winnipeg 4-3 in overtime on this ice on October 15, the first meeting of the season. Last season the Jets took three of the four games.
Winnipeg Jets: three straight wins, but 3.89 goals conceded per road game 
The streak started in Montreal with a 5-4 overtime win on November 3. Winnipeg then beat Vancouver 6-2 at home two nights later and edged Tampa Bay 4-3 on November 8.
Kyle Connor has done most of the heavy lifting. He has 13 goals and 19 points, and Mark Scheifele sits one point behind with 14 assists. Cole Perfetti adds 7 goals and 14 points, and Neal Pionk has 12 points from the blue line.
The road numbers are the worry. Winnipeg are 3-4-2 away from home with 23 goals scored and 35 allowed, and their penalty kill works at 71.7%.
Chicago’s power play is in no position to punish that. The Jets’ own man advantage has scored 12 times on 55 chances, 21.8%, against a Blackhawks kill running at 78.6%.
Josh Morrissey has been on injured reserve with a wrist injury since October 7. A return around November 8 was floated in early November, but it hadn’t been confirmed when this was written. Vladislav Namestnikov is also on IR and Nick Bjugstad, who arrived in the Hellebuyck deal, is on long-term injured reserve with a pectoral injury.
Dawson Mercer, another piece of that trade, missed practice on November 2 with an upper-body problem. There’s no back-to-back on this trip: a day off before Dallas and another before Chicago.
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Chicago Blackhawks: 1-8-1 in ten and Patrick Kane on injured reserve 
The only win in Chicago’s last ten games was a 2-1 decision over Los Angeles on October 27. Since then they’ve lost to Detroit, Boston in overtime, Colorado, Florida, Tampa Bay and Carolina.
Goals against are the bigger story. The Blackhawks allow 4.22 per game, last in the league, and Spencer Knight has a 4-10-0 record with a .881 save percentage over 14 appearances. Arvid Soderblom’s .842 in five games gives the coaching staff no real alternative.
Connor Bedard has 14 points in 12 games, 5 goals and 9 assists, after missing time early in the season. Roman Kantserov leads the team with 9 goals. Anton Frondell has 8 points and Frank Nazar 5 goals.
Patrick Kane went on injured reserve after an upper-body injury against Colorado on November 2, with no timeline given. He had 9 points at the time. Bowen Byram has also been dealing with an upper-body injury since November 1, and reports differ on whether he’s day-to-day or on IR. Ryan Ellis remains out with a back injury.
The United Center has been kinder. Chicago are 4-5-0 at home with 22 goals for and 30 against, compared with 0-8-1 on the road. They host Buffalo on Thursday before Winnipeg arrives.
That October 15 overtime win over the Jets is one of their four victories, and I wouldn’t read much into it given what’s followed. They were outscored 9-2 in their last game.
Probable lineup Chicago Blackhawks: Not announced at time of publication. Expected in goal: Spencer Knight. Up front: Bedard, Kantserov, Frondell, Nazar, Teravainen, Bertuzzi.
Probable lineup Winnipeg Jets: Not announced at time of publication. Expected in goal: Stuart Skinner. Up front: Connor, Scheifele, Perfetti, Vilardi; Pionk on defence.
Free NHL Prediction: Chicago Blackhawks vs Winnipeg Jets
Our prediction: Winnipeg Jets to win
I’d back the Jets. Chicago have the worst goals-against record in the league at 4.22 a night and the second-worst offence at 2.17, and their power play converts under 10% of the time. Winnipeg’s top line, with Connor on 13 goals, is the best unit on the ice by a distance.
The October overtime loss here and Skinner’s .883 are the honest case against. Winnipeg concede plenty on the road too. But the Blackhawks have one win in ten and are without Kane, and the Jets get a full day off before puck drop.
No sportsbook line was posted for Saturday at the time of writing. The moneyline is the bet rather than the puck line: the October meeting went to overtime, and Winnipeg’s three-game streak includes two one-goal wins.
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