I’m not going to lie, I was not looking forward to this one going to overtime, but I didn’t want to see it end like that. Kevin Lankinen made a handful of impressive saves in the final minutes tonight, but David Pastrnak was able to corral a knuckler in front of the net and sneak it by Lankinen with 17 seconds left to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead on the eventual game-winner. A brutal ending to a game that the Blackhawks appeared to be in control of after a solid first period.
Derek King’s 12-17-88 line got the Blackhawks on the board early once again with Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat playing a two-on-one rush to perfection, ending in DeBrincat’s 34th goal of the season as the Blackhawks pulled even at one just 6:41 into the first. Alex DeBrincat has a goal in his last five games.
DeBrincat has now scored a goal in 5 straight games pic.twitter.com/4rFCdKiEdc
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) March 11, 2022
Brandon Hagel would do the rest of the scoring for Chicago potting an early second-period goal to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead, and then the equalizer early in the third after Boston took the lead late in the second. Hagel scored goals No. 19 and 20 on the season tonight, and he did it in front of 17 scouts in attendance at the TD Garden in Boston.
Hagel goes around the net for the lead pic.twitter.com/EoAQI8wrcH
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) March 11, 2022
Boston came into the game with the third-ranked power-play unit when on home ice, and the Blackhawks gave them three consecutive power plays in the second period, and Boston took full advantage by scoring on two of them. First, Jack Ahcan scored his first career goal, and then David Pastrnak put the Bruins on top with under five to play in the second period.
The Blackhawks simply couldn’t afford to give Boston that many opportunities on the man-advantage, and it really changed the whole complexion of the game. Before the run of man-advantages for the Bruins, the Blackhawks were outplaying Boston for the first half of the second period and playing with a lead.
Kevin Lankinen has now allowed four or more goals in his last four starts and five of his previous six. Derek King gave Lankinen a vote of confidence before the game, but it’s going to be tough for the Blackhawks to win games with this version of Lankinen in net every night if Marc-André Fleury is traded before the deadline.
You can find the complete box score here!
