Jets clinch No. 1 seed in Western Conference with shootout win against Blackhawks

CHICAGO – The Winnipeg Jets clinched first place in the Central Division and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-4 shootout victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Saturday.

The Jets earned the one point they needed to clinch once the game went past regulation. They will hold home-ice advantage through the Western Conference Final.

“It feels good, obviously,” forward Adam Lowry said. “The process tonight wasn’t very good. We weren’t thrilled with our game. Maybe tomorrow you wake up in a better mood because it was nice we pulled that one out. Everyone (was) kind of disappointed with our start. We battled back and were able to get it.

“It wasn’t a masterpiece, but it was nice to close it out and kind of solidify home ice for hopefully a long run. We haven’t really accomplished anything yet. We’re still focused on the goal ahead. To kind of have a small reward for the work we put in throughout the year (is) a nice little feather in our cap.”

Josh Morrissey scored two third-period goals for the Jets (55-21-4), who finished first in their conference for the first time in team history. Their one previous division title came when they were the Atlanta Thrashers, winning the Southeast Division in 2006-07. Nino Niederreiter and Kyle Connor also scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves.

“I think we’ve shown all year we’ve done a good job of being able to win different ways,” Morrissey said. “Our calling card has been solid ‘D’ and not giving up a lot of chances throughout the game. So, there’s a lot more there than we would have liked. We found a way to stay in it. Sometimes those games late in the year against teams that are out of it by quite a bit with a lot of young guys can look like that.”

Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar each had a goal and an assist, and Spencer Knight made 37 saves for the Blackhawks (23-46-11), who played their final home game of the season. Patrick Maroon and Alec Martinez each played his final NHL game.

"Yeah, I'm grateful for this game and grateful for all the organizations that I was a part of playing in this league and grateful for my teammates that were along the way, the trainers and everyone that was part of it," Maroon said. "Honestly, I'm foggy right now, I don't know what to say."

The Blackhawks saluted Maroon, who won the Stanley Cup three times during a 14-year career, with a video tribute.

"Really special," he said. "First, I'd like to thank the Blackhawks organization for doing that for me tonight. Made it really special, and not only for me, for (Martinez) also. And the ovation from the fans, thank you, I appreciate it. I’ve only spent six months here and it was a great send off, and I can't thank the Chicago Blackhawks organization for doing that. They didn't have to do anything, right? We're just players that like to play the game that we love and we're competitors every single day and we go out there and try to do everything we can to win hockey games. So, thank you."

Nick Foligno's short-handed goal gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 10:40 of the first period. Hellebuyck skated out toward a loose puck at the blue line but his clearing attempt hit Foligno, who picked up the puck and scored into an open net.

Bedard made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 13:21. He took a pass from Sam Rinzel and scored with a one-timer from the left face-off circle.

Niederreiter’s power-play goal at 11:15 of the second period brought the Jets within 2-1 when he moved in from the left point and put a wrist shot past Knight from the slot.

Connor then tied it 2-2 at 16:03, firing a wrist shot past Knight’s glove from the left circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Alex Iafallo.

Morrissey put Winnipeg ahead 3-2 at 2:08 of the third period with a shot from the high slot.

Ryan Donato tied it 3-3 at 10:53 with a slap shot from the left circle.

"Today, I thought we did a lot of good things," Chicago interim coach Anders Sorensen said. "Margins are small, right? For the group we had, I think everybody battled as hard as we could. It was an emotional game in a lot of ways, but I thought everybody did their absolute best here to get the win."

Nazar put the Blackhawks ahead 4-3 at 14:05 with a one-timer from the slot, but Morrissey responded to tie it 4-4 at 16:13 when he cut down from the left point and scored with a snap shot from the left circle off a pass from Dylan DeMelo at the right point.

"We had a good shift, a lot of zone time there," Morrissey said. "(DeMelo) made a great play. I was trying to jump behind their high forward, and he had the poise to make a great pass to me there."

The Jets finish the regular season with two home games, Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers and Wednesday against the Anaheim Ducks.

"It's taken us 80 games to get this division," coach Scott Arniel said. "It's been a grind, and I don't care how we got it, we got it. Like I said before, teams in our division don't go away as good as we've played it. To finally get that over and done with, it's a relief."

NOTES: Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers was helped off the ice at 14:26 of the second period after getting tangled up with linesperson James Tobias and falling awkwardly. He did not return to the game. Arniel said Ehlers will be evaluated on Sunday after the Jets return to Winnipeg. ... Hellebuyck earned his 46th win of 2024-25 and tied Evgeni Nabokov (2007-08) for the fifth-most in a single season in NHL history behind Braden Holtby (48 in 2015-16), Martin Brodeur (48 in 2006-07), Bernie Parent (47 in 1973-74) and Roberto Luongo (47 in 2006-07) ... Bedard, 19, recorded his 81st NHL assist to surpass Eddie Olczyk for the most by a teenager in Blackhawks history.