Scheifele’s 2 goals rally Jets past Blackhawks in OT

Mark Scheifele scored 38 seconds into overtime after tying the game with 1:04 remaining, and the Winnipeg Jets rallied for a 2-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg on Friday.

Scheifele tipped in a pass from Kyle Connor in the slot to win it and become the second player to score 300 goals for the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise, joining Ilya Kovalchuk (328 goals in 594 games). He tied it at 18:56 of the third period by scoring 6-on-5 with a backhand from just outside the crease on the rebound of a sharp-angled shot by Nikolaj Ehlers.

“It’s pretty humbling to think about,” said Scheifele, who reached the milestone in 799 games. “It’s pretty wild. I’m very thankful for the guys that I’ve played with. I’m lucky enough to play with some really good players. It’s all thanks to them.”

Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for the Jets (2-0-0) in their home opener. They won 6-0 at the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday to begin the regular season.

Ryan Donato scored for the Blackhawks (0-2-0), who lost their season opener 5-2 at the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday. Arvid Soderblom made 33 saves.

“I think we played 59 great minutes,” Chicago defenseman Seth Jones said. “They got one 6-on-5 on us. It’s not going to be good enough for us. We expect to play a 60-minute game and that’s what it’s going to take for us to win.

“We’re tired of taking moral victories at this point. We’ve got to win hockey games.”

Donato put the Blackhawks ahead 1-0 at 16:52 of the second period. Patrick Maroon chipped a pass off the left wall through the neutral zone to Donato, who carried it to the left face-off circle for a wrist shot to the short side.

It ended Hellebuyck’s shutout streak at 96:51 with 45 straight saves to begin the regular season, including 30 on Wednesday.

“We played a solid game,” Donato said. “[Soderblom] played great. But it’s just, you’ve got to play 60 minutes of good hockey, not 59. At the end of the day, we did some good things but it’s just not good enough.”

Before Scheifele’s tying goal, Alex Iafallo had a chance for Winnipeg at 14:06 of the third. He took a centering pass from Haydn Fleury for a backhand shot from the slot but was turned away by Soderblom.

Soderblom then denied Mason Appleton twice in nine seconds, first on a wrist shot from the far wall with Nino Niederreiter charging to the crease at 16:34, then on a diving wraparound attempt at 16:43.

“Our whole group, actually, our execution wasn’t very good on the whole,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “We had 10-foot passes, we were missing guys. Just our execution, all together, wasn’t very good for 60 minutes.”

Winnipeg had a 16-8 shot advantage in the third.

“It was a good game, but it’s a new page this year for us,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “We’ve got to find a way to lock those down. I thought the goalie played excellent. We’ve got to find a way to get the regulation win for him.

“That last minute, just somehow. A little bit tired at the end, but so are they and they’re pushing to try to score a goal. You’ve got to find a way to stop it. I just thought it’s unfortunate.”

The Blackhawks were outshot 7-2 until late in the first period when Andreas Athanasiou's backhand on a breakaway was stopped by Hellebuyck with a glove save at 17:04.

“It's how we wanted to play,” Ehlers said. “I think the look of our defensive system is something that has helped us over the last couple years and that's something that we're going to keep working on because we're a pretty good team when we play the right way."

NOTES: Scheifele became the first player in Jets/Thrashers history to score a tying goal in the final two minutes of regulation and the winner in the first minute of overtime. Patrik Laine is the only other player in franchise history to tie it in the final two minutes of regulation and win it at any point in overtime. ... Scheifele is the second player from the 2011 NHL Draft to score 300 goals, joining Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov (323). ... Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen was claimed by the Colorado Avalanche on Friday, one day after Winnipeg placed him on waivers.