ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Blackhawks have about 25 minutes of nightly taking part in time to fill with Seth Jones shipped off to the Panthers.
On Saturday night time at the very least, their makeshift defensive corps coated that workload with out situation, permitting their offense to blow up in a second consecutive sport in a 6-3 win over the Geese.
Alex Vlasic took over quarterbacking the highest power-play unit and led the Hawks with 23:53 of ice time — a hair above his season common — and veterans Connor Murphy and Alec Martinez additionally exceeded 20 minutes. Even embattled T.J. Brodie fared high-quality as a last-minute lineup insertion within the wake of the Jones trade, which occurred simply two hours earlier than puck drop.
However the largest key was kids Ethan Del Mastro and Wyatt Kaiser every stepping up with glorious performances in 19:56 and 19:21 of ice time, respectively. For Del Mastro, that marked a brand new profession excessive, and he continued utilizing his massive physique to separate opponents from the puck after which making sensible performs out of the defensive zone.
Kaiser, furthermore, seemed like a very completely different participant in his first NHL look since Jan. 20, having simply changed Nolan Allan on the roster Friday. Kaiser’s imaginative and prescient and skating capability made an enormous distinction on defensive-zone exits, neutral-zone entries and offensive-zone cycles alike, and he scored his second profession objective (in 77 video games) on a highlight-reel play within the second interval.
“You possibly can inform they’re clearly very expert,” stated Martinez, who recorded two assists himself. “They will transfer the puck. They’re sensible gamers. [It was] no shock that they stepped in, performed a giant position, performed rather well and contributed big-time to the win.”
It’s maybe unlikely they’ll have the ability to maintain this diploma of success. However this was an encouraging signal that not solely can the Hawks survive a Jones-sized gap of their protection for the ultimate 1.5 months of the season, but additionally the additional alternatives may profit their younger defensemen.
Objectives, abruptly
On the offensive aspect, the Hawks scored three targets in each the second and third intervals, constructing upon their five-goal outburst Thursday in opposition to the Golden Knights and snapping a five-game dropping streak.
Teuvo Teravainen tallied three factors, Ryan Donato buried his team-leading twentieth and twenty first targets of the season to balloon the lead within the ultimate body and Lukas Reichel — returning after two wholesome scratches — loved his first multi-point outing since October.
Connor Bedard endured his fifth consecutive pointless sport, nonetheless, as Andreas Athanasiou’s out-of-the-blue call-up and placement on his line didn’t spark something.
“It felt good to be again,” Reichel stated. “It’s not at all times straightforward should you received scratched. [In the] first sport again, [your] timing is a little bit off. However I attempted to make one of the best of it, keep optimistic and play a little bit pissed off. I’m glad it labored out.
“Anders stated earlier than the sport, ‘We’ve received to remain centered.’ And that’s what we did.”
