In Calgary, the Chicago Blackhawks took their offense out of the box for a test drive.
Now that’s it’s no longer mint-in-box, they might want to keep playing with it.
On Saturday night, the Hawks walloped the Flames, 8-4.
Robin Lehner made 38 saves as the beneficiary of the offense.
Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews led the way with a goal each and three points on the night.
“It’s nice to see the result, but regardless you’ve got to keep working, you have to bring your best no matter what happens,” Toews said. “You’ve got to turn it around mentally and find ways to battle back and create something, even if the good feelings aren’t always there. It’s the way you’ve got to play in the playoffs. This has to be playoff hockey for us now. It’s do or die.”
The Flames offense came from Elias Lindholm and Sam Bennett, who scored two goal each.
“It [stinks], especially at home,” Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk said. “We want to make this place a real tough place to play and for some reason right now we’re just not having success. I can’t put my finger on it, but if I could we would change it. The good thing is we’re in the [playoff] race.”
Alex Nylander struck for two goals in the Chicago win.
“It’s nice to see all four lines get in on the offense tonight,” Toews said. “I think it helps everyone’s confidence. We’ll stick with playing the right way, doing the things we know we have to do and playing with energy, and we can get offense from [everyone] in our lineup.”
lex DeBrincat, Brandon Saad, Kirby Dach, and Dominik Kubalik added single markers for Chicago.
“You always want to score every game and want to help the team win,” Nylander said. “Finally, it’s come. We’ve had a lot of chances and [we’re] finally getting the bounces in. I’m happy, and we need to build on this as we have really important games the rest of the season.”
[WATCH: All Blackhawks vs. Flames highlights]
David Rittich got the start for Calgary, but was given the hook after surrendering four goals and making only 11 saves.
“It’s a little frustrating right now,” Bennett said. “We pushed back after they scored early. For whatever reason, our defensive zone and our turnovers, we fell apart and gave up way too many odd-man rushes and good looks and they capitalized.”
Cam Talbot came into the game kin the middle frame and made nine saves in the mop up role.
You must be logged in to post a comment.