Blackhawks vs DET: Reaction, Three Stars, and Highlights from 7-2 win

The Chicago Blackhawks pulled through last night and ended the month of February on a positive note after dropping a game against Detroit on Saturday.

The Blackhawks played a rather strong game against Detroit, and now they can rest for a few days before welcoming Tampa Bay to town. The team’s record against Detroit has now gone to 5-1-0, considering Detroit is one of the bottom teams in the division and league, that record should be expected. Let’s walk through some stats after a great performance last night from the ‘Hawks.

Stats:

Shots on goal:

Detroit – 46
Chicago – 32

Hits:

Detroit – 26
Chicago – 28

Faceoffs won:

Detroit -31
Chicago – 31

Goals:

Nikita Zadorov assisted by David Kampf (1-0 Chicago)

Ryan Carpenter assisted by Matthew Highmore and Ian Mitchell (2-0 Chicago)

Sam Gagner assisted by Jon Merrill and Vladislav Namestnikov (2-1 Chicago)

Pius Suter assisted by Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane (3-1 Chicago)

Ryan Carpenter assisted by Alex DeBrincat and Adam Boqvist (4-1 Chicago)

Patrick Kane assisted by Alex DeBrincat (5-1 Chicago)

Evgeny Svechnikov assisted by Filip Hronek and Adam Erne (5-2 Chicago)

Dominik Kubalik assisted by Brandon Hagel (6-2 Chicago)

Alex DeBrincat assisted by Calvin de Haan and Patrick Kane (7-2 Chicago)

Highlights:

Nikita Zadorov got things going in the first period with a wicked goal for the Blackhawks. It was an amazing snipe set up by David Kampf.

These are the types of goals the Blackhawks are going to have to score during the coming weeks. As things get tough, the goals scored when driving the net are going to be very valuable to this team.

Shortly after the Blackhawks’ second goal, Detroit answered with one of their own.

With a nice ding off the post, Pius Suter sniped a goal past Thomas Greiss. Greiss was by no means having a good night, and this goal to give the ‘Hawks a 3-1 lead basically ended thing for the Wings.

Of course, before things could officially wrap up for the night, Ryan Carpenter had to tally his second goal of the night. With Shaw and Strome out with injuries, Chicago went with Ryan Carpenter on the power play, which led to a goal tonight.

I mean, did anyone think that Patrick Kane would pass the puck in the position he had midway through the third period? Sure, Alex DeBrincat has been great this season at scoring goals, but on a two-on-one driving up the ice to score his 400th goal, Kane drove right to the slot and fired a puck into the net. Congratulations to Patrick Kane on his 400th NHL goal.

There are many highlights from last night’s game, which is a good thing as there was not much to celebrate Saturday. Chicago would go on to score two more goals on the night by Kubalik and DeBrincat.

Key Takeaways:

The  Blackhawks played one of their better games against Detroit. Considering how the team played on Saturday night and how they ran into a hot goalie, it was nice to flip the script on Sunday. The ‘Hawks had goals by basically everyone, and that needs to continue.

Chicago actually did not start the game on the best note. Detroit outshot and out-chanced the ‘Hawks in the first period, and if it were not for the great play of Kevin Lankinen, maybe this game would have ended differently.

While this was a good performance, I still wonder if the ‘Hawks will change up their lines during the next matchup of the season. Speaking of change-ups – the uniforms last night were actually super cool to see in action.

Three Stars:

1. Patrick Kane

2. Alex DeBrincat

3. Pius Suter

Suter won a team-leading ten faceoffs last night. DeBrincat was all over the ice and registered a goal and some assists, but most importantly, he assisted on Patrick Kane’s 400th goal. Kane, as usual, played like the MVP he is.

What’s next?

The Blackhawks are off until Thursday when Tampa Bay comes to town for three games. This matchup will be important to the ‘Hawks as Tampa Bay is the best team in the division, and a few wins against them could drastically change where Chicago sits.