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3 Takeaways From The Chicago Blackhawks Victory Over The San Jose Sharks

The Blackhawks came back to win 5-2.

By Todd Welter |
/ Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
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In a battle of the two worst teams in the NHL standings, it was the Chicago Blackhawks who came out on top. The Hawks rallied back from an early two-goal deficit to defeat the San Jose Sharks 5-2 at the United Center.

The Hawks have won three of four games while the Sharks have lost four straight. That combination has San Jose at the top of the Tankathon.com/NHL standings after the Blackhawks had been in the lead for months.

The Blackhawks getting players back from IR combined with the Sharks trading away key players at the trade deadline now has the Sharks tentatively having the best odds in the NHL Draft Lottery.

So while the Hawks are the official winners of the Macklin Celebrini Bowl II, you could argue the Sharks came out the victors in the long run. For those wondering, Celebrini is the top prospect in this year's draft. He is a goal-scoring machine that if paired up with Connor Bedard could easily turn the Hawks' fortunes around quickly.

Hey, we have seen the Blackhawks win the NHL Draft Lottery with worse odds. Although it would be nice to have as many ping-pong balls as possible this time around since winning it two years in a row is a rarity.

Anyways, back to the victory and the three takeaways...

The new-look first line looked out of sorts in the first period but came through in the second.

The Hawks' new-look first line of Philipp Kurashev, Connor Bedard, and Tyler Johnson looked off in the first period. Whatever they talked about during the first intermission paid off as that line produced the team's first goal in the second period.

Head coach Luke Richardson shook up the lines after the Blackhawks got pummeled by the Los Angeles Kings 5-0 on Friday. The other reason he did it was Lukas Reichel was recalled from the Rockford IceHogs. We will get to Reichel shortly, but Richardson wanted Nick Foligno skating with Lukas, so he dropped Foligno down to the third line and promoted Johnson to the first.

As long as Kurashev and Bedard skate together, then Richardson can move whoever he wants into the other forward spot. Those two have great chemistry. Kurashev even pulled one of the most unselfish moves a teammate can pull when he passed up on scoring an empty netter. Instead, he sent a pass over to Bedard who scored his 21st goal as time nearly expired in the game.

The offense came to life rather quickly in the third period.

The offense that produced 14 goals in two games last week was not on the ice last Friday against Los Angeles. It was looking like the Hawks were about to go into one of those scoring slumps we have seen all season with only one goal through two periods.

Then the Hawks rattled off three goals in 83 seconds during the third period. Ryan Donato tied the game up at two with 9:21 left in the game.

Kevin Korchinski scored the game-winner a minute and some change later. Then Joey Anderson scored a few seconds later after the Sharks mishandled the faceoff.

Anderson's backhand goal was a brilliant display of just getting the puck to the net and seeing what happens as it was redirected off of a San Jose Sharks' defenseman.

After being quiet for two periods, Korchinski and Anderson's goals sent the place into a frenzy. Maybe that offensive stretch reminded everyone of the better days during the Stanley Cup runs of the previous decades.

Lukas Reichel played well in his return from Rockford.

Reichel's play was so bad during the 50 games he skated in through his first full NHL season that the team had no choice but to demote him to the AHL. The organization was hoping he would regain his confidence.

He is getting another chance to prove he belongs in the NHL now that Andreas Athanasiou is back from injured reserve. Those two had some chemistry together last season when Reichel was briefly up with the big club.

Maybe having Athanasiou flying around on the ice was all Reichel needed as the 21-year-old forward looked like the talented offensive prospect we saw last season. Although, Athanasiou blazing all over the ice seems to have motivated whoever he plays with lately. He definitely has made a positive impact since being out for more than 50 games. That is a good thing since he was not good before he went on injured reserve.

Athanasiou seems to have given Lukas a boost as Reichel even picked up the assist on Korchinski's game-winning goal. It was Reichel's first primary assist since January. Hopefully, we see more of this from Reichel during the final stretch of the season.

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