NEWSLETTER
Slow starts have been a bugaboo for the Chicago Blackhawks, but not tonight. Playing with visibly fresh legs after the week off for the NHL All-Star break, the Blackhawks jumped on the Edmonton Oilers early on Wednesday night. Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat made Edmonton pay for an early tripping penalty by Ryan Nugget-Hopkins when Kaner found DeBrincat with a gorgeous no-look pass in DeBrincat’s familiar left circle.
The tally by DeBrincat was his 27th of the season and 11th on the power play, and it gave Chicago a 1-0 lead just 1:44 into tonight’s contest.
Patrick Kane with the no-look pass to DeBrincat on the game’s first goal. pic.twitter.com/fKDfa5dEXe
— Patrick K. Flowers (@PatrickKFlowers) February 10, 2022
Just 1:03 later, Alex DeBrincat made his presence felt again, this time with an assist on a Brandon Hagel goal to make it 2-0 Blackhawks. DeBrincat hits Hagel with the cross-ice pass, and Hagel logged his 13th goal of the season for the road team.
https://twitter.com/TalkinHawkey/status/1491592088613535747?s=20&t=B-VgbXSBePaLNsm5gghN1Q
Unfortunately, the second period was the exact opposite for the Blackhawks, as they struggled to get anything going in the offensive zone. The Blackhawks could muster up only six shots on goal in the middle frame, a huge missed opportunity with Edmonton’s Mike Smith looking incredibly uncomfortable in net from the drop of the puck.
Keeping the pressure on Smith could have helped the Blackhawks stretch their lead; instead, they allowed Edmonton to trim it in half. After Connor Murphy went to the penalty box on a high-sticking penalty early in the second period, Leon Draisaitl was able to get the Oilers on the board when he stuffed a rebound past a sprawled-out Marc-André Fleury, making it a 2-1 game.
Edmonton put the puck on the net 19 times in the second period, but Marc-André Fleury stopped 18 of them and finished the second period with 32 saves and an assist from his trusty goal post.
Oilers had 31 shot attempts and 21 scoring chances in the second period, per @NatStatTrick.#Blackhawks had 9 attempts and 4 scoring chances.
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) February 10, 2022
A scary moment in the second period, when former Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith had to be helped off the ice and went straight to the Edmonton dressing room after he crashed into the boards hard and came up in visible pain and favoring his shoulder.
Duncan Keith is helped off the ice after crashing HARD into the boards pic.twitter.com/ChJMwYG95f
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) February 10, 2022
Coming off of his first NHL All-Star Game appearance Alex DeBrincat was the story of the night for the Blackhawks. Early in the third period, he took a big hit from Leon Draisaitl that resulted in a penalty, and just seconds later, DeBrincat found Dylan Strome on the man-advantage for a goal, giving the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead and some breathing room in Edmonton. The assist by DeBrincat was his third point of the night (one goal, two assists).
The Blackhawks looked much more like the early first-period version of themselves early in the third, a welcomed sight for sore Chicago eyes.
After a massive penalty kill for the Blackhawks, their third successful penalty kill in four tries on the night, Kirby Dach found the back of the net from up close against Mike Smith to make it a 4-1 Blackhawks lead with just over 10 minutes to play in the game.
Jake McCabe➡️Brandon Hagel➡️Kirby Dach🚨
Dach deflects Hagel’s pass for his 7th goal of the season to extend the #Blackhawks lead to 4-1! Both Dach & Hagel have recorded 2 points tonight as well! pic.twitter.com/Ftv1juI78V
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) February 10, 2022
While the Blackhawks didn’t generate a ton of shots in the third period, they made the best of their opportunities, with both Strome and Dach scoring right in front of the net on solid offensive zone possessions. Aside from the stellar performance of Marc-André Fleury in net, that was the difference in this one.
The Dach-DeBrincat-Hagel line was on-fire tonight, with each logging a multi-point performance. Alex DeBrincat led the way with three points (goal, two assists), while Kirby Dach (goal, assist) and Brandon Hagel (goal, assist) each tallied a pair of points.
Marc-André Fleury racked up a whopping 40 saves tonight as the Blackhawks took two points in Edmonton on Wednesday night, a solid victory on the road against a dangerous Oilers team.
You can find the complete box score here!
