In Columbus, Chicago’s Brandon Hagel put home the game-winner for the Blackhawks with 1:25 gone in extra time to defeat the Blue Jackets, 4-3 on Monday night.
“Sometimes it wasn’t going in for me this year, so finally nice to get one like that and just build off it,” Hagel said. “I know I can score in this League.”
Columbus’ Patrik Laine had made the extra session necessary with his second goal of the game (12th goal of the season) just past the midway point of the third period.
“I felt like myself out there tonight,” Laine said. “We took advantage of some big plays. I can make things happen on my own, we just need to string something together and get some wins.”
Laine made an unnecessarily spectacular end-to-end rush for the goal.
“I saw of bunch of openings. Sometimes I just need to take it to the net more,” Laine said. “The goal gave me confidence and good things happen when you go to the net.”
Kevin Lankinen made 30 save in the win for Chicago.
Stefan Matteau also scored for Columbus.
“We came out the way we wanted to. They had some weapons and they ended up capitalizing,” the Blue Jackets’ Max Domi said. “We did a lot of good things. Happy for the guys tonight, just an unfortunate ending to the game.”
Duncan Keith and Philipp Kurashev scored for the Blackhawks.
“I thought Stillman was very physical, he was active, he got stops for us, was jumping in the play,” Chicago head coach Jeremy Colliton said. “I asked him to pull back a little bit, but he did good stuff out there.”
Brett Connolly made his debut with Chicago and paid off with a strike.
“It’s huge, just to chip in and be a part of it right away,” Conn
olly said. “The guys have been amazing. There are a lot of young guys who are hungry to be good and constantly working at their game. So I’m just coming in here to fit in and get back to playing the way I know I can play. I haven’t lost confidence in myself. I’m ready to go.”
Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves in the loss.
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