There aren’t many goalies that can say they routinely stone the Chicago Blackhawks.
Michael Hutchinson, though, is definitely one of the few.
The Jets goalie continued his dominance of the ‘Hawks on Thursday night, with a sparking 45-save effort in a 3-1 win. Prior to tonight, Hutchinson had faced Chicago four times, posting three wins with a .961 save percentage and 1.23 GAA.
Clearly, he’s got a thing going.
“I don’t know what it is,” Hutchinson said after the game. “It’s definitely easy to get up for a game against them, especially since they’re the defending Stanley Cup champions.”
Hutchinson’s heroics allowed Winnipeg to erase a 1-0 deficit -- thanks to Artemi Panarin’s first-period goal -- and score three unanswered, with captain Andrew Ladd netting the eventual game-winner in the second frame.
Plenty of praise for Michael Hutchinson from #NHLJets G Michael Hutchinson: “He kept us in it and he's the big reason we won.”Mark Scheifele
— Ken Wiebe (@WiebesWorld) October 30, 2015
The win pushed the Jets to a solid 6-3-1 on the year and closed out their six-game homestand with a 3-2-1 record, which is important given they’ll now play eight of their next nine on the road.
As for Chicago -- well, the offensive struggles continue.
The club has now scored just 11 goals in its last seven games, and just three in the last three.
Forwards Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw, Marcus Kruger, Ryan Garbutt, Bryan Bickell, Viktor Tikhonov and Andrew Desjardins have combined to score one goal this season.