The Chicago Blackhawks picked up where they let down.
They admitted before Monday night’s road-trip finale against the Winnipeg Jets that the St. Louis Blues “took a lot of wind out of our sails,” as Ryan Carpenter put it, in the third period of Saturday’s 5-1 loss. But the Hawks responded with a hard-fought 3-1 win against the Jets at Canada Life Centre.
Patrick Kane scored his first goal since a two-goal third period against the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 28. Alex DeBrincat rifled his 28th goal past Connor Hellebuyck.
Marc-André Fleury made some stellar stops among his 30 saves, and defensemen Connor Murphy and Caleb Jones helped him out of a couple of jams.
Coach Derek King said that was “exactly” the response he was looking for after the loss to the Blues.
“You know, it’s funny,” he said. “We said it after, you compete, you play with a little structure and you execute, and that was a solid road win for us. Guys played, they rebounded and played great.”
For as listless as the Hawks looked in the final period against the Blues, they were game against the Jets, even though the home team out-shot them 11-8 in the first period.
However, the Hawks had the Jets on their heels in the second.
On Kane’s goal to open the scoring, Jake McCabe grabbed a puck and launched a counterattack to Kirby Dach, who dished to Kane and moved Ville Heinola out of Kane’s way like a blocker before Kane snapped a shot from the left dot.
“We obviously came out a lot stronger and stuck with it for most of the 60 (minutes), so overall I thought it was a good game,” DeBrincat said. “Scoring the first goal obviously helps a lot and keeps the positive vibe on the bench.”
If the Hawks had a glaring weakness, it was their struggles on faceoffs. They won just 20% (3 of 15) in the first period and 46% in the second.
Mark Scheifele evened the score at 1-1 by first beating Carpenter on a neutral-zone draw, then tapping in a bad bounce off Murphy.
The goalies traded tremendous saves in the first half of the third period. Hellebuyck blocked Dach’s breakaway, and Fleury foiled a drive by Kyle Connor.
But there was little Hellebuyck could do when DeBrincat got hold of a loose puck off Josh Morrissey, raced through the neutral zone and scored with three Jets defenders around him.
Brandon Hagel sank an empty-netter and then lost his footing and crashed into the end wall with 55.5 seconds left. Kane and Fleury were credited with assists.
______
