One-tenth of a second robbed Patrick Kane of a highlight for the ages in potentially his final Blackhawks home game Tuesday.
But Tyler Johnson’s shootout winner at least gave Kane justice in the win column, lifting the Hawks to a 3-2 comeback victory over the Golden Knights.
“We just had to beat them twice,” coach Luke Richardson joked.
Kane was quiet by his standards through the first two periods but came alive in the third. He finished with nine shots — seven on goal — in a season-high 27:24 of ice time, and picked up a massive assist when he set up Johnson for a game-tying, one-timer rocket on a six-on-four power play with 54 seconds left.
Kane’s night will always be remembered for what his final stat line didn’t include, though.
On a clear-cut breakaway at the end of overtime but with the seconds quickly winding down, Kane pulled up from the high slot and blasted a slap shot past Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit, into the net and nearly into eternal United Center folklore. But a lengthy video review eventually determined it crossed the goal line an instant too late.
“It would’ve been cooler if ‘Kaner’ would’ve scored that goal,” Johnson said. “[That] would’ve made it a lot more fun.”
The Hawks’ next four games are on the road; they won’t return to Chicago until March 2, the night before the trade deadline, by which point it’s hard to know who will remain on the team.
Gutsy Guttman
Cole Guttman’s second career goal, which tied Tuesday’s game 1-1 in the first period, was almost as pretty as his game-winner Sunday. He pulled away from the Golden Knights’ defense and made a smooth move on Broissoit.
In doing so, he became the first Hawks forward to score two goals in his first four games since Artemi Panarin and Dennis Rasmussen both did so in 2015.
The scrappy 23-year-old center probably doesn’t have Panarin-level upside, but he nonetheless appears on track for a much better NHL career than Rasmussen, who washed out of the league after nine goals.
Richardson has been impressed by how quickly Guttman has learned things and made quick adjustments during his first week in the big leagues. That’s the same ability that stood out to Rockford coaches earlier this season.
PP breakthrough
Johnson’s late-regulation goal broke a dismal 1-for-34 drought by the Hawks’ power play that previously spanned 14 games back through mid-January.
Richardson had tried various adjustments, moving guys around and emphasizing different things to work on, but with no luck lately. It has been hard to even nail down the main reason for the struggles.
“They look great on video but they just can’t get it across the line,” he said pregame. “We’ve had some really good looks in-zone at times, and now it seems like it’s more our entries [that are the problem]. A week ago, we were coming in clean, we just couldn’t really get set up.”
Injury updates
- Reese Johnson was placed in concussion protocol Tuesday, with Brett Seney taking his spot in the lineup. Richardson wasn’t sure exactly when Johnson picked up the concussion; the symptoms were late-arriving.
- MacKenzie Entwistle (wrist) was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Feb. 14, and will not go on the road trip.
- Jujhar Khaira will go on the trip. He’s finally close to returning from the back injury that has kept him out since Christmas. Richardson said he’s looking forward to having Khaira’s “big body” available to stick in front of the net, since the Hawks are especially lacking a presence like that with Jonathan Toews out.
