Scheifele and Connor score in shootout and Jets erase 4-goal deficit for 5-4 win over Blackhawks

CHICAGO (AP) — Mark Scheifele had a goal and three assists, Kyle Connor scored a goal in regulation and had the deciding shootout goal, and the Winnipeg Jets rallied from a four-goal deficit to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 on Saturday.

The Jets’ sixth straight win was their second comeback from four goals down this season. They scored four times in 2:07 to beat Montreal 5-4 in overtime on Nov. 3.

Gabriel Vilardi’s shot from the right slot tied the game 4-all with 1:13 left in regulation and goalie Nico Daws pulled for an extra attacker.

Scheifele also scored in the shootout. Daws stopped Roman Kantserov to lock up the victory.

Spencer Knight, who made 27 saves, lost his bid for the Blackhawks’ first shutout since March when Scheifele ripped a 15-foot shot past his glove side with 3:55 to play in the second period to make it 4-1. Scheifele’s goal made him the Jets’ points leader for the second time. He finished the game with 933 points.

Scheifele had held the mark until the original Jets’ records were consolidated before this season, making the late Dale Hawerchuk, who played for the team that eventually moved to Phoenix, the points leader.

Only 1:56 later, Scheifele set up Kyle Connor for his 700th career point to cut the lead to 4-2. In the first minute of the third period, Cole Perfetti’s power-play score brought the Jets within a goal.

Daws made 12 saves in relief for Winnipeg.

The Blackhawks chased Winnipeg starting goalie Stuart Skinner from the crease after 20 minutes, scoring three times on eight shots in the first period. Tyler Bertuzzi, Anton Frondell and Connor Bedard scored the goals. The Blackhawks took a 4-0 lead on Frank Nazar’s tip with 5:16 left in the second and Daws in the net.

Winnipeg: Hosts Ottawa on Tuesday night.

Chicago: Hosts Toronto on Tuesday night, on the 100th anniversary of the Blackhawks’ first game.

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See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Winnipeg Jets' Mark Scheifele (55) celebrates with teammate Viggo Bjorck (61) after scoring a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Blackhawks' Frank Nazar (91) scores against Winnipeg Jets goalie Nico Daws (35) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Winnipeg Jets' Mark Scheifele (55) celebrates with teammates Mario Ferraro (38) and Viggo Bjorck (61) after scoring a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Winnipeg Jets' Kyle Connor (81) celebrates with teammates at the bench after scoring during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Regional U.S. air traffic control centers communicate using a complex network that's “one of the largest telecommunications systems in the country,” and disruptions like those seen on Friday with an hourslong, nationwide grounding of flights can reverberate widely, according to an aviation expert.

Michael McCormick, a former airspace manager with the Federal Aviation Administration, said it could take days for airlines — many of which had to divert flights — to resume normal operations after officials lifted the grounding order. The order was lifted late Friday.

Here's a look at what happened, how regional air traffic control centers work, how controllers communicate with pilots and why a problem on the ground can affect flights thousands of miles away among other issues:

The nation’s air traffic control system overloaded antiquated equipment and caused “intermittent” communications and radar gaps, leading to the ground stop that lasted more than four hours on Friday, Trump administration officials said Saturday in a press briefing.

A contractor had been working on replacing a section of the system’s old and discontinued copper wire with new fiber wire in a remote location on Friday afternoon, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Saturday. That kind of work has been happening across the country and across industries for decades, he said.

“Specifically, we had over 1,000 connection attempts every 4 to 5 seconds,” Duffy said. “And what that did was gave us issues with our communication with airplanes, and it also caused some disruption with our radar feeds. And when we see that, your safety is paramount, we shut down the airspace.”

Planes flying at the time of the ground stop were able to land safely using “well-known procedures” in place for such circumstances, Duffy said Friday.

The government has been working to overhaul the outdated technology air traffic controllers rely on since Congress approved $12.5 billion for the effort last year. Miles of old copper wires have been replaced with fiber optic lines, while old radio systems are gradually being replaced at airports. But the work is far from complete, and Duffy used the news conference on Friday and Saturday to urge Congress to provide more funding.

The FAA grounded flights nationwide Friday due to issues at regional air traffic control centers, an FAA notice said.

The U.S. operates 22 regional air traffic control centers, managed by the FAA, and they oversee long-distance aircraft operating between departure and arrival airports, according to McCormick, associate professor and program coordinator in the Department of Applied Aviation Sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. McCormick estimates these control centers take over flights at altitudes over 10,000 feet.

These centers, which operate in such places as Anchorage, Alaska, Houston and Indianapolis, are one of the three layers that guide pilots. The airport towers direct pilots during takeoffs at the 500-plus airports that have towers. Then, the so-called Terminal Radar Approach Control centers take over and guide pilots as they get further away from the airport. And then the regional control centers take over. When descending, the reverse happens, experts say.

Experts say that the controllers at the regional centers are sitting at radar displays and are responsible for only that airspace.

“As you fly, your flight is handed off from one controller to another controller,” said Stephen Creamer, president and CEO of the Air Traffic Control Association, a trade group for equipment manufacturers involved with air traffic control. “That handoff process is like taking the screen and the aircraft on one screen and making sure it’s on someone else’s screen before you send the communications over to that next controller and have the pilot start talking to them.”

McCormick said the country's regional, high-altitude air traffic control centers need to be connected to remote radio transmitter or receiver sites. That's to allow for radio frequency coverage to communicate with the aircraft.

Those transmitter sites are connected to the centers via telecommunications systems, the likes of which are in the process of moving from copper wires to fiber optic lines. The two-way communication is important to ensure — among other things — that planes maintain safe spacing, he said.

“What is especially problematic in this case is that it’s what’s known as a rolling outage,” McCormick said. “In other words, it's unpredictable and it may impact one air traffic control center now and then it gets better and then impacts another air traffic control center.”

But he and other aviation experts said that the FAA is now transitioning to what's known as controller pilot data link — a digital, text-based messaging system that allows controllers and pilots to exchange routine clearances, instructions and requests through the data link instead of voice radio.

In September, Newark Liberty International Airport temporarily lost radar communications with aircraft, after a backup fiber optic line was inadvertently cut by railroad construction workers. That forced the FAA to immediately cancel hundreds of flights going in and out of the airport.

But airline experts say that scenario was different from what occurred on Friday. Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters Saturday that intermittent frequency instability affected as many as 17 of the 22 U.S. regional air control centers.

“The thing that was unique about this is that it was a type of failure that wasn’t local because it was part of the communication system,” said R. John Hansman, an aeronautics professor at MIT whose research includes information technology in aviation. “It propagated around the country.”

Andrew Charlton, an aviation consultant, said the “knock-on” effect is incredible.

“The aircraft doesn’t just fly from A to B and back to B and then stop,” he said. “It then moves on to C and then over to E and around and around and around. It is, of course, exacerbated if you’re talking about long-haul flights, international flights over the Atlantic or over the Pacific.”

Aviation experts say that pilots can still communicate with aircraft even during intermittent communications disruptions, noting as an example that many planes have satellite phone systems.

Hansman said pilots can still talk directly to other pilots in airplanes around them via radio. There is also equipment on board that tells pilots if airplanes are around them, he added.

If a control tower loses radio capabilities, it can also communicate with pilots with high intensity light beams, which send signals to pilots to alert whether it's safe to descend, Hansman said.

“We have a number of backup systems that allow the airplanes to fly safely to the extent that air traffic control can still communicate directly with the radio,” he said.

A worker manages baggage carts as a United Airlines flight taxis at George Bush International Airport on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Houston, after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Passengers wait in line at a baggage claim area at George Bush International Airport on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Houston, after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

A traveler arrives at George Bush International Airport on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Houston, after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Visitors to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center observation tower watch an airplane prepare to land at Washington Dulles International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops, in Chantilly, Va., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

The control tower is seen at Washington Dulles International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops in Chantilly, Va., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)