In Detroit, the Chicago Blackhawks’ Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves and blanked the Red Wings, 2-0, on Wednesday night.
“This is one of those nights you dream about growing up,” Lankinen said. “You want to play your first game, get your first win, and get your first shutout. It’s nice to have all of those out of the way.”
The win pushed the Hawks to 9-5-4 on the season.
“I was really happy with how we played,” Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “We generated a lot of chances, and could have scored more, but their goaltender was excellent.
“Obviously, [Lankinen] made some big saves for us when they made a push in the third.”
Philipp Kurashev scored for Chicago off the power play.
“I had a breakout and [Duncan Keith] made a nice pass to me in the middle,” Kurashev said. “I just thought I would try to get around the defense and it worked out so well. I put a move on [Bernier] and I scored.”
Detroit dropped to 4-11-3 on the season.
“I thought we had some good chances on the power play tonight (0-for-3), but we have to do that on a consistent basis,” Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill said. “A really good power play is only going to score at 20 or 22 percent, so you’ll have nights where you play well and don’t score. We need to keep moving forward from this, not take another step backward.”
Alex DeBrincat iced the game with a late empty-net goal.
“We have young guys all over the lineup, so if they aren’t going, we’re going to have a tough time,” Colliton said. “Right now, they are contributing and helping us win, which is huge for their confidence.”
Jonathan Bernier made 24 saves and has a suit pending in Detroit district court for non support from his forwards.
“I think we’re played a little better in the last few games, but we can’t start accepting moral victories,” Detroit’s Luke Glendening said. “This is a results-based league and we’ve got to win some games. It’s not just the power play, we have to find ways to score at 5-on-5.”
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