Chicago Blackhawks let Jets get back in game but still win 6-3 Thursday

WINNIPEG – Marian Hossa celebrated his return to the lineup with the winner in the third period Thursday night as his Chicago Blackhawks stumbled but didn’t fall and downed the Winnipeg Jets 6-3.

Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad, Jonathan Toews and Ben Smith also scored for Chicago (15-4-4), who have won all three of their games against the Jets this season. Patrick Sharp had an empty netter to end the game.

Andrew Ladd, Keaton Ellerby and Dustin Byfuglien scored for the Jets (10-11-3).

The first period was all Blackhawks, who seldom let the Jets have the puck.

Jets fans picked Chicago’s Kane as a target for their boos but he responded with a power-play goal late in the period, thanks to a tripping penalty awarded to Winnipeg’s Evander Kane.

After stopping a lot of pucks, Ondrej Pavelec didn’t get much of a look at the shot through heavy traffic in front of the Winnipeg net. The Jets were outshot 12-2 in the period.

Saad’s one-timer from the slot made it 2-0 just over three minutes into the second.

But then the game took sharp left turn for the Hawks, as the Jets scored two goals in 29 seconds to tie it up.

Bryan Little fed Ladd, whose wrist shot beat Corey Crawford’s glove hand at 3:22, and Ellerby used Winnipeg’s first power play of the game to score his first as a Jet from the point at 3:51.

Toews put the Blackhawks back in the lead with a 4-on-4 goal just past the 11-minute mark, beating out defenceman Toby Enstrom and slipping the puck past Pavelec from the side of the crease.

But the Hawks then served up a 5-on-3 opportunity that Byfuglien cashed in at 13:30, with Winnipeg’s third shot on Crawford within seconds, to even it up again.

The shots told the story in the second, with the Jets ahead 14-8.

Hossa, who was sidelined for a few games with an injury, put the Blackhawks ahead at 3:11 of the third when he outplayed Ellerby while swinging past the Jets net, slipping the puck through a very small hole left by Pavelec as he moved to cover.

Smith raced in to bang in a rebound for some insurance at 5:22 to make it 5-3.

A Winnipeg radio station had been urging fans to wear helmets to the game in response to a Chicago fan who stole Adam Pardy’s after the Jets defenceman was checked through the glass at the United Center on Nov. 6.

But the Jets didn’t like the idea and told fans they wouldn’t get in if their showed up with helmets on Thursday night.

There was a heavy police presence at the game but it wasn’t because of the rivalry between the two Central Division teams. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in attendance.

Notes: The Jets and Blackhawks play once more, Jan. 26 in Chicago. It’s a small league: Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien played for the Blackhawks and Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was assistant GM when Chicago won a Stanley Cup in 2010. Michael Frolik was with the Blackhawks when they won the Cup last season. Chicago captain Jonathan Toews was born in Winnipeg. Andoriginal Jets’ goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who went with the team when it moved to Phoenix in 1996, still plays for the Blackhawks, although he’s out right now with a lower-body injury.