The Whoop Is Big After All: Blackhawks 5, Flames 1

It was one of the Blackhawks best games of the season.

After losing their last two games, the Chicago Blackhawks got back into the win column by beating the Calgary Flames 5-1 Thursday night.

The Blackhawks opened the scoring late into the first period. After some strong cycling, Max Domi’s cross-ice pass set up Taylor Raddysh, who scored with a beautiful wrister through traffic to make it 1-0.

The Flames tied it 1-1 with just 28 seconds left in the period. Nazem Kadri carried the puck in and made a centering pass to Jonathan Huberdeau, who deked around Jake McCabe to score in tight.

The Blackhawks regained their lead midway through the second period when Boris Katchouk’s long shot from the high slot beat Jacob Markstrom.

Credit to Luke Philp for maintaining puck possession with Kadri draped over his back before the primary assist and to Reese Johnson for the screen on Markstrom.

A handful of minutes later, the Blackhawks scored two goals in 32 seconds.

First, Jason Dickinson lifted the puck over Markstrom to make it 3-1 at 15:37 in the second period. Dickinson was all alone in the puck because Patrick Kane pulled his signature move: enter the zone, stall along the wall to draw the defender to him, and then hit the trailer with a beautiful pass.

Then, Sam Lafferty stuffed home Colin Blackwell’s deflected pass with 3:51 left in the middle frame. Lafferty stuck with the play even after Blake Coleman’s desperation dive knocked the pass off course.

Despite a huge push from the Flames during the third period — in which they outshot Chicago 18-6 — the Blackhawks won 5-1, with the fifth goal being an empty-net goal from Connor Murphy with 43 seconds left in the game.

Notes

• The Blackhawks played one of their best games of the season, especially in the first 40 minutes, even if it was kind of dull overall. The Flames still had the slight edge in puck possession the first two periods, but the Blackhawks did a great job suppressing shots and quality chances while generating their own in return. Chicago ended up with 55.26 percent of the shots on goal and 58.09 percent of the expected goals in that span.

• The third period was where the Flames really dominated, but Stauber was excellent when needed. Getting wins in his first two NHL starts has to be exhilarating — and apparently Stauber made history:

• Due to Toews’ illness, there was quite a shakeup among the Blackhawks lines, so it’s all the more impressive that every line had a goal tonight. That’s a feat I don’t think happened at any other point this season.
• R. Johnson was the only forward without a point tonight, but as said above, credit goes to him for his net-front presence on the Katchouk goal.
• Dave and I discussed pre-game how sad it was that it looked like Luke Philp wasn’t going to get to play in his hometown — or as close as he’ll get — but Toews’ illness made it possible after all and Philp ended up getting his first NHL point on Boris’ goal. Hate to be without the captain but I’m a sucker for these types of things. Glad his family got to see him again.

• Speaking of Boris, he was a healthy scratch for nine games — deservedly so, let’s be honest — so it must have been nice for him to come back into the lineup and score.
• Patrick Kane was pulling out some good tricks this game and could have had a few more points if not for Markstrom’s play early in the game.

• Ian Mitchell had a really strong game tonight, so it’s odd he played only 15:19. The fact that the young guys are the ones rotating out of the lineup and playing the least is still bothersome.
• For those worried about this win disrupting The Tank, both the Anaheim Ducks and Arizona Coyotes won tonight and the Columbus Blue Jackets won last night. It might be a tight race for the best lottery chances, but it’s not the end of the world for the Blackhawks to have some success lately. Again, just enjoy the ride while you can.

Game Cards

Three stars

1. Jaxson Stauber (CHI) — .971 save percentage
2. Patrick Kane (CHI) — 1 assist
3. Taylor Raddysh (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s next

The Blackhawks continue their Western Canada road trip and head to Edmonton to face the Oilers on Saturday at 9 p.m. CT.