NEWSLETTER
It was a jam-packed night between the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks. It was Andrew Shaw Legacy Night, Lukas Reichel’s NHL Debut, and an Original Six matchup with the original Blackhawks broadcast teams on Radio and TV back together. What more could you ask for? Oh, and extra hockey to boot!
In the true spirit of Andrew Shaw, the Blackhawks grind-out a 3-2 overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens to avoid losing to the last-place team in the NHL twice in the same week. With the win, Chicago now has victories three in-a-row after dropping their previous six contests.
Prior to the game, the Blackhawks honored two-time Stanley Cup winner Andrew Shaw!
Forever the Mutt!#Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/ynmSMJCwz7
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 14, 2022
A veteran of 554 NHL games, Shaw spent the majority of his career in Chicago, playing the other portion of his time in the NHL with the Canadiens, so it was fitting to honor him in this game. And the Blackhawks did a great job to finish the night in true Shaw fashion.
Chicago opened the scoring in the first period with a breakaway goal from Dominik Kubalík.
Kubalík scores his 7th of the season! Ends a 6-game goalless stretch to begin 2022#Blackhawks lead 1-0#CHIvsMTL pic.twitter.com/v3QBgt4fPH
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) January 14, 2022
His seventh of the season put the Blackhawk ahead 1-0 after the first period, with a 13-2 shots on goal advantage over the Canadiens. Then in the second period, the game was flipped on its head as Montreal struck twice and out-shot the Blackhawks 17-6 to take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. When trialing after two periods this season, the Blackhawks held a 1-14-3 record coming into tonight’s game.
Things got back on track in the third period for Chicago as Patrick Kane scored on the powerplay to tie the game at 2-2 early in the period. Kane’s eighth goal of the season snapped a 13-game goal-drought, but was his 15th point over his past 16 games.
Not NHL All-Star Patrick Kane with his 8th of the season to tie it up 2-2 in the 3rd period!#Blackhawks #CHIvsMTL pic.twitter.com/7VDejCwgAM
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) January 14, 2022
Chicago would have another powerplay opportunity late in the third period, but couldn’t find the game-winner, so we would head to overtime. In the extra period, the Canadiens controlled most of the action, but it was a drive to the net by Philipp Kurashev that proved to be the difference-maker.
Philipp Kurashev bulldozes his way to the #Blackhawks overtime winner!#CHIvsMTL pic.twitter.com/v7ZUTkCPGO
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) January 14, 2022
Not only was this goal reviewed to see if it crossed the goalline before the net came off of its holders, but it was also reviewed for offsides after it was determined to be a good goal prior to the collision in net. After both reviews, the goal stood and the Blackhawks win.
Marc-André Fleury made his fifth-straight start for the Blackhawks tonight, and earned his third win over that five-game span with a 27-save performance. He improves his record this season to 12-11-2 overall and 11-4-2 since November 7.
Rookie Lukas Reichel made his NHL debut in this game tonight, and while he didn’t get on the scoresheet, he had moments where you could see why people, myself included, have been in his corner to get him some NHL experience this season. Playing alongside Brandon Hagel and Patrick Kane tonight, Reichel was able to display the speed and skill in his hands that make him an intriguing prospect and the top youngster in the Blackhawks organization. He played 15:55 minutes tonight and recorded three shots on goal. Reichel had a 48.0% Corsi-For percentage, a 57.14% Shots-For percentage, a 50.99% Expected Goals-For percentage, and a 45.45% Scoring Chances-For percentage tonight, according to Natural StatTrick.
The Blackhawks improve to 14-18-5 this season with the win, they are 13-9-3 since Derek King took over as interim head coach. Chicago is back in action on Saturday night when they host the Anaheim Ducks at the United Center.
Find the full box score here.
