NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Blackhawks ended a four-game losing streak last night with a hard-fought, 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers. It was the first win for Chicago over the Panthers this season and it came at the exact right time. The Blackhawks were in desperate need of a quality effort and a quality win, they got both on Tuesday night. Now they can refocus on the playoff push ahead and build off an impressive win over their next five home games.
• Chicago used a quality start out of goaltender Kevin Lankinen to secure just their third win in the month of March. Lankinen made 33 saves on 35 shots to break a three-game losing streak for himself, notching his 11th win of the season.
Colliton on Lankinen: "He was good all night. Felt really confident and comfortable with him there. That's part of establishing yourself is understanding you've got to keep improving."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 24, 2021
• Down the stretch of the game on Tuesday night, the Panthers pushed hard to find the game-tying goal, but Lankinen would be able to shut the door, helping the Blackhawks hold onto a multi-goal lead for a win for just the third time since February 1st.
Lankinen: "It was big for me. It was big for the team… I've been feeling pretty good the last several weeks, it's just the results haven't been there… It was a good night."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 24, 2021
• Most impressively, Lankinen had an incredible pad-stack save to deny the Panthers in the third period.
Lankinen on this save, with a big smile: "That was something else from the toolbox." https://t.co/SUSfKWnQDA
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 24, 2021
• Also on display last night for the Blackhawks was Patrick Kane and his family to celebrate his 1,000th game at home. Kane reached the milestone on the road on March 9th, so a proper celebration had to wait until the Blackhawks returned to the United Center.
Per Patrick Kane’s wish, we won’t 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 celebrate until we can share the moment with a packed house of #Blackhawks fans.
But since it's our first home game since his 1,000th NHL game on March 9, we recognized Kaner's achievement with his family.#1Kane pic.twitter.com/BJ4hx022uM
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 24, 2021
• While there will be a grander, more fitting celebration once fans are allowed to pack the UC again, it was great to see Kane honored for reaching 1,000 games played. Including the first venture out into the world for his son Patrick Kane III!
"That's hockey, little baby."
We had a mini celebration of Kaner's 1,000th NHL game milestone with his family, thus the attendance of mini Patrick Kane was required. #BlackhawksBabies #1Kane pic.twitter.com/rIpusnDiWG
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 24, 2021
• Also in attendance for Kane’s celebration was former Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. It’s funny, Quenneville and the Panthers were also in attendance on the night Kane was honored for scoring his 1,000th point. In the pregame presser, Quenneville joked that maybe he’ll be able to be in the building again when Kane’s No. 88 goes into the rafters.
Kane on Joel Quenneville watching his ceremony: "It speaks volumes of how classy a guy he is…. Nice skating back to the bench and seeing him and sharing that moment with him for one second."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 24, 2021
• Blackhawks teammates all wore No. 88 sweaters during warmups to honor Kane, and some joined him in his pregame ritual of trying to toss a puck up to Tommy Hawk in the 200 level. Then, once the game began, his teammates helped honor his achievement better than they did on March 9th, which was a 6-1 loss to the Stars.
• In the 3-2 win, Kane tallied two assists to help propel Chicago over the Panthers. With those two points, Kane tied and then passed Keith Thachuk for fourth-place all-time in points by US-born NHL players. Kane has 1,066 points and trails only Jeremy Roenick (1,216), Phil Housley (1,232), and Mike Modano (1,374) on the all-time list.
Carl Söderberg PPG! Primary assist to Patrick Kane, who moves into 4th all-time on the US-born points list! He only trails Jeremy Roenick (1,216), Phil Housley (1,232), and Mike Modano (1,374)#Blackhawks #1Kane pic.twitter.com/8ehzkVwJfo
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) March 24, 2021
• Also getting on the score sheet last night with one goal each were Pius Suter and Dominik Kubalík. Suter scored his ninth goal of the season to snap a six-game streak without a point, while Kubalík’s goal was his 11th of the year and extended his points-streak to six games.
• MacKenzie Entwistle made his NHL debut last night with the Blackhawks. He played the least amount of ice-time in the 3-2 win, but made his appearance count with three hits and two shots on goal. Entwistle is the seventh player to make their NHL debut this season with Chicago.
Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton on MacKenzie Entwistle's debut: "Big body and he was trying to be physical. Thought he made a couple of nice plays on the breakout."
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) March 24, 2021
• What was almost as good as seeing Chicago get the win last night was seeing them have a little bit of fight in them. Against the Tampa Bay Lightning recently, the Blackhawks looked as if they were actively choosing to not engage in any physicality. They got bullied and lost both games to the superior Lightning squad. But against another superior team, the Blackhawks were able to beat them on the scoreboard AND not let them push them around when the going got tough.
https://twitter.com/NBCSBlackhawks/status/1374543748064014338?s=20
• This is big boy hockey time. Chicago is right in the middle of the playoff hunt and every game and every point matters from here on out. Being able to step up to the plate against teams that are better than you can go a long way in getting teams to have to respect you, opening up the opportunity for your play to do more of the talking. If the Blackhawks can keep that energy up, they could very well hold onto their current playoff spot in the Central Division at the end of the season.
• Chicago has three more games against the Panthers this season and just one more against the Lightning. Their upcoming schedule is both favorable and will tell us who will have the upper hand in the playoff push when we reach the final stretch of the schedule.
The race is on for that fourth spot in the Central.
Apply Dallas’ .500 record of late to their four games in-hand (4 pts), they’d slot above Nashville with 32 points in 33 games. Four teams would be separated by four points.
Ten of #Blackhawks next 15 against DAL, NSH and CBJ. pic.twitter.com/ZBmqFY0Vn2
— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) March 24, 2021
• Final note from last night, ahead of the game during warmups, Panthers Captain Aleksander Barkov left the ice and was a late scratch for Florida. His presence was missed by the Panthers and his status for the next few days is still up in the air.
Joel Quenneville hints Sasha Barkov had something lingering before warmups. “He tried it” … said he is day-to-day.
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) March 24, 2021
• Other notes from the Central Division last night: Andrei Vasilevskiy is a monster.
Andrei Vasilevskiy improved to 12-0-0 in his last 12 appearances dating to Feb. 22 and established a @TBLightning record for longest winning streak, eclipsing the previous mark of 11 set by Louis Domingue in 2018-19. #NHLStats: https://t.co/68MwDpTSMq pic.twitter.com/16JCKeUDNA
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 24, 2021
• I really don’t know how you beat that guy. Maybe you’d need to have the refs on your side?
• What a transition. Last night during the Nashville Predators-Detroit Red Wings game, referee Tim Peel was caught on a hot mic saying that he had made a make-up call on the Predators.
Maybe if you're a mic'd up ref, you shouldn't express how you wanted to call a penalty against a team earlier in the game, changing how you ref the rest of the game.
"It wasn't much but I wanted to get a fuckin' penalty against Nashville early in the…"#Preds #LGRW pic.twitter.com/6fZImkdqLr
— Matt Best (@bestofmatt) March 24, 2021
• Needless to say, this made the rounds on social media and got the attention of the league offices. The precedent for make-up calls isn’t something new, but to have it blasted to a global audience isn’t a good look. Ultimately, the NHL punished Peel by taking him off of any games for the rest of the season and beyond. Basically, they fired him without saying it. Peel was set to retire at the end of this season anyway.
• One of the wildest parts to this story is that Peel was in fact not talking about the make-up call to another referee, but to Filip Forsberg and the Predators bench. He was admitting he had screwed them over, right to his face. If that doesn’t tell you how make-up calls in the NHL are just common practice, I don’t know what will.
https://twitter.com/1025TheGame/status/1374740234756362251?s=20
• Not an ideal look for the league.
• That’s all for today. Have yourselves a Wednesday!
