NEWSLETTER
I’m sure for those in attendance, the wait was worth it. The Chicago Blackhawks hosted fans at the United Center for the first time since March 11th, 2020 and they did not disappoint the nearly 4,000 in attendance. After blitzing the Dallas Stars in the first period, the Blackhawks held on for a 4-2 win to seal a regular season series win over Dallas.
FINAL: #Blackhawks 4, Stars 2
Shot attempts: 62-40 DAL
Shots on goal: 39-25 DAL
5-on-5 scoring chances: 36-18 DAL
5-on-5 high danger chances: 16-10 DAL pic.twitter.com/YeZ941c61K— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) May 10, 2021
Chicago set a lineup of 11 forwards and 7 defensemen in front of rookie goaltender Kevin Lankinen. Nine skaters and Lankinen made it ten rookies in the lineup for the Blackhawks, the most they have iced in a game this season, which was already a year full of rookies making their NHL debuts with Chicago.
Making the most of their opportunity, four rookies tallied points with Brandon Hagel notching his third multi-point game of the season. MacKenzie Entwistle scored his first career NHL goal, coming from Mike Hardman’s first career NHL assist, and Pius Suter tallied an assist on the 4-2 goal by Alex DeBrincat, which was his second of the game.
DeBrincat and Patrick Kane joined Hagel in having multi-point efforts as DeBrincat extended his goal streak to six games and points streak to seven games with his 30th and 31st goals of the season, while Kane added assists 50 and 51 on the year. I don’t think the Blackhawks could have scripted a better showing for the returning home fans with so many young players and rookies in the lineup. Adding to that, Kevin Lankinen had possibly his best game in over a month, stopping 37 of 39 shots faced. Lankinen moves his record to 17-14-5 and snaps a three-game losing streak and his first win in his last five appearances since April 12th. It was quite the effort to close the season for the 26-year-old rookie goaltender, as Collin Delia is set to start tomorrow night’s season finale for the Blackhawks.
Find the full box score here.
