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3 Takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks Victory Over the Calgary Flames

Jason Dickinson scored two goals to reach the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career. The Hawks won 3-1.

By Todd Welter |
/ Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
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The Chicago Blackhawks dominated the Calgary Flames at the United Center. It is rare to say the Hawks have dominated any opponent all season, but they did that in a 3-1 victory.

The Blackhawks are closing out the season by playing some of their best hockey as they are 6-4 over their past 10 games. That is impressive considering the Hawks went 1-12-3 before this recent stretch of strong play.

Maybe it is because the team is back to being as close to healthy as it can be. Winning lately might be hurting the Blackhawks' chances to secure the best possible odds to win the NHL Draft Lottery and thus the right to select Macklin Celebrini with the No. 1 overall pick. At the same time, it is nice to see the Hawks finish the season strong, especially with players who will be here next season.

Here are three takeaways from last night's victory...

Jason Dickinson continued his career season scoring while rookie Landon Slaggert registered his first NHL career points.

Dickinson registered two goals in this game to reach 20 goals for the first time in his career. The Hawks were up 1-0 when Jason found the back of the net late in the first period.

Slaggert picked up the secondary assist for his first career NHL point. Slaggert nearly scored his first NHL goal in the second period, but the shot was blocked at the last second. He technically scored that first career goal in the third period, but it was wiped out after review.

Instead, he had to settle for two points as he also got the secondary assist on Dickinson's second goal of the game in the third period.

Dickinson and Slaggert are getting the headlines, but Joey Anderson deserves some love too as he made two nice passes on those primary assists to set up Jason for those goals.

Dickinson has been one of the few consistent bright spots in a lost season. He has never scored more than nine goals in his career, but he put a lot of work into his offensive game in the offseason and it is paying off.

With almost everyone back healthy, he produced two goals from the fourth line. Anderson and Dickinson have built really good chemistry together and adding Slaggert has only made that line stronger. It is a line that cannot only play good defense and hit, but it can also score.

The Blackhawks' first power play was darn good.

Calgary's Daniil Miromanov went to the penalty box 47 seconds into the game when he slashed Dickinson. The Hawks even had a two-man advantage during that power play when Mikael Backlund hooked Connor Bedard.

The power play unit during that stretch was a sight to be seen. The Hawks were firing shots led by Bedard's six attempts.

What was most impressive about that power play was the Hawks kept the puck in the offensive zone which meant the Flames could not make a change. All those shot attempts and moving the puck eventually wore out Calgary's penalty-kill unit and it was Seth Jones who slapped a shot past the tired-out Flames for the game's first goal.

It was Jones' seventh goal of the season and sixth this month. He did not score a goal in the 2023 part of the season and it looked like he was just taking the year off from scoring goals as he did not score his first goal of the year until January 19th.

The defenseman takes a lot of criticism since he is the team's highest-paid player especially this season as he was not producing anywhere close to his $9.5 million AAV. This month he has looked every bit of a No. 1 defenseman as he also has five assists this month.

Petr Mrazek was outstanding in goal.

It almost looked like he would have had a shutout until MacKenzie Weegar beat him for a goal in the third period. Although, Mrazek felt he was interfered with.

Mrazek has been at his best at the United Center. He is 13-10-3 with a 2.48 goals-against-average and a .924 save percentage.

He has been particularly stingy against the Flames in three games this season. Mrazek is 2-1 with a 1.69 GAA and a .950 save percentage against Calgary.

Jones and Dickinson spotted him a 2-0 lead in the first period and Mrazek took care of the rest. The Hawks' offensive attack went away in the final two periods as the Flames outshot Chicago 25-12. The blueliners helped Mrazek as Calgary only had four high-danger chances over the final two periods.

Kevin Korchinski was the only defenseman who graded out negatively and even then, it was not like he was terrible.

The Blackhawks have won two straight games, but it is not considered a win streak until they hit three consecutive victories which is something they have not done all season.

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