Winnipeg Jets center Jonathan Toews checked the box of facing the Chicago Blackhawks for the first time when he earned an assist in a lopsided home win in October.
But skating against his longtime former team at the United Center, as Toews is set to do for the first time when the teams meet in Chicago on Monday, feels like an entirely different challenge.
“It’s almost like I was happy it was later in the season just because I want to play well and I feel I’ve been building my game,” Toews told NHL.com. “There’s a little bit of nerves there with the thought of that game coming up pretty soon, so it’ll be very emotional.
“Obviously, I really want to go out there and play well and do my best, but those ones are always tough to focus on the task at hand with a lot going on around you.”
Toews, 37, captained Chicago to three Stanley Cup championships in the 2010s, accumulating 883 points (372 goals, 511 assists) over 15 seasons. He left hockey for health reasons after the 2022-23 season but returned to his hometown Jets this fall.
Toews has seven goals and 11 assists in 47 games with Winnipeg. He was held off the scoresheet Saturday as the Jets lost 4-3 in overtime to the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.
That ended the Jets’ four-game winning streak as well as a four-game goal streak for Toews.
While just seven current Blackhawks players have counted Toews as a teammate — Jason Dickinson, Wyatt Kaiser, Sam Lafferty, Connor Murphy, Arvid Soderblom, Teuvo Teravainen and Alex Vlasic — each recalls the impression Toews made on the ice and off.
“He is really personable as far as getting to know his teammates, and he wants to connect,” Murphy said. “Something as simple as you go to a team party with your wife or girlfriend, he’d connect with them, too, and make them feel welcome and want to get to know them and build friendships.
“He’s just a genuine person. When someone’s genuine and trying to build friendships and camaraderie — that makes it really easy to connect.”
The relatively few remaining ties to Toews in the Chicago dressing room figure to ease the Blackhawks’ objective to regroup. The club is aiming to avoid an 0-4 homestand after suffering multi-goal losses against Edmonton, Calgary, and Boston in the past week.
Ryan Greene and Kaiser scored two minutes apart late in the first period Saturday before Boston regrouped for a 5-2 victory.
“We were playing very predictable, and now it seems like we’re trying to make one extra move or one extra play,” Dickinson said. “Where we were getting success was crashing the net or pucks low-to-high. … We’re trying to continue with that, but it feels like we’re one step away.”
Winnipeg also squandered a two-goal lead Saturday, albeit in the third period. Kyle Connor, Alex Iafallo, and Nino Niederreiter scored for the Jets in what coach Scott Arniel called “a game we should have finished off.”
Teravainen has missed Chicago’s past two games with an upper-body injury and didn’t practice Sunday. Fellow forward Frank Nazar (upper body), on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 20, skated in practice wearing a regular jersey.
Nazar, who was struck in the face with a puck in Ottawa on Dec. 30, could return when Chicago plays at Carolina on Thursday. A first round pick in 2022, Nazar (six goals, 15 assists, 33 games) signed a $46.2 million, 7-year extension with the Blackhawks in August.
Winnipeg defenseman Neal Pionk remains on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
–Field Level Media
