Laine's milestone night paces Jets over Blackhawks

Patrik Laine is just doing what feels right.

The Winnipeg Jets forward became the fourth-youngest player in NHL history to score 100 career goals when he recorded a pair in Winnipeg's 6-5 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. His close friend, Nikolaj Ehlers, had a hat trick.

"It feels like a lot of my shots are going in and that's why I'm trying to shoot every time I get the chance," Laine said.

He scored his 100th and 101st goals in his 178th game at the age of 20 years, 224 days. Wayne Gretzky did it the fastest in 20 years and 40 days. The other players were Jimmy Carson and Brian Bellows.

Laine said the milestone wasn't on his mind as he knew it would come. The third-year Finnish sniper now has a league-leading 21 goals this season 18 scored in November and 24 points.

"Overall, I could play better hockey, especially tonight," he said."I can play better defence, but that's something we need to do better."

Ehlers scored a goal in each period, with his third fired in when he went in alone on goalie Corey Crawford and beat him with a low shot at 9:45 of the third period to make it 6-3. It was his third career hat trick.

"I feel like I've been playing some good hockey lately," said Ehlers, who's been on the top line with Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele for the past month. "It's gotten better and better.

"My defensive game was not good today, but I worked hard as I can to continue growing as a player and today I got rewarded."

Watch highlights of Winnipeg's victory over Chicago:

Game Wrap: Ehlers' hat trick, Laine's milestone pushes Jets past Blackhawks

6 years ago

Duration 1:49

Patrik Laine became the fourth youngest player in NHL history to reach 100 goals as Winnipeg beat Chicago 6-5.

JacobTroubahad a goal and an assist for Winnipeg (14-8-2), while MarkScheifeleand Blake Wheeler each had three assists.

ArtemAnisimovand John Hayden each had a goal and assist for Chicago (9-12-5). Marcus Kruger, JanRuttaandDominkKahunalso scored. DavidKampfcontributed a pair of assists.

ConnorHellebuyckmade 26 saves for the Jets, who were 1-3-0 in their four previous games.

Crawford stopped 27 shots for theBlackhawks, who are 1-4-0 in their last five games.

"This hasn't been good enough and it's not OK," Kruger said. "I think we're all sick of losing here. We just got to be better."

Anisimov'sgoal came at 17:08 of the third to squeeze the score to 6-5, but theBlackhawkscouldn't continue the surge.

"It's tough to say, but we just got to stick with the process here," Chicago forward Patrick Kane said. "Sometimes you go through these struggles and things get worse before they get better. So you try to stick with what the coaches want us to do."

Three goals were scored in the first four minutes of the opening period, which ended tied 2-2.

Laineused a rebound to score his20thgoal of the season at 1:43. Kruger flipped in a bouncing puck at 3:03 andEhlersregained Winnipeg's lead 49 seconds later. Hayden tied it with a rebound offKampf'sbreakaway shot at 8:10.

Ehlersscored his seventh goal of the season at 1:01 of the second andTroubaput away his second of the season 45 seconds later to jump out to a 4-2 lead.

JetsdefencemanCameron Schilling, called up from the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose on Wednesday, picked up the secondary assist ofEhlers'sgoal, the first point of his seven-gameNHLcareer. The 30-year-old Indiana native hadn't played anNHLgame since March 2015 when he was with Washington.

Schilling and fellowdefencemanSamiNikuwere on the ice replacing injured blue-liners DustinByfuglienand Joe Morrow.

Hellebuyckmissed a glove save on a long shot byRuttaat 9:31 to squeeze the score 4-3.

Lainescored on the power play at 1:18 of the third. He has 14 points (13 goals, one assist) in his past seven games.Ehlers,KahunandAnisimovfinished the game's scoring.