The Chicago Blackhawks gave new meaning to “rolling lines” Thursday because all four forward lines were rolling during a 5-1 victory against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome.
“We had 20 guys going tonight,” coach Luke Richardson said. “We really skated from beginning to the end. I thought we had some great scoring chances and played real hard defensively. It was a real solid game.”
Jonathan Toews missed the game with a non-COVID-19-related illness, so a lot of the usual combinations were jumbled for this matchup.
You couldn’t tell by looking.
The second line struck first. Taylor Raddysh opened the scoring in the first period with his first goal since Jan. 14 and was assisted by Max Domi and Philipp Kurashev.
The Flames’ Jonathan Huberdeau tied the game with 28 seconds left in the period. But the Hawks broke the game open with three second-period goals.
Boris Katchouk continued a nice run for the fourth line, scoring a goal off a feed from Luke Philp — the rookie’s first NHL point.
Jason Dickinson, centering the top line in place of Toews, lifted the puck past Jacob Markström with help from Patrick Kane and Andreas Athanasiou.
Thirty seconds later, Sam Lafferty one-timed a short-side shot behind Markström, who came out to defend Colin Blackwell before he dished to Lafferty. MacKenzie Entwistle also was credited with an assist. Connor Murphy added an empty-netter with 43 seconds left. Fourth-line center Reese Johnson was the only forward who didn’t register a point.
Richardson said of Toews’ absence, “Sometimes when you lose a big player that maybe you rely on so much, everybody else is a little bit sharper. I’m sure they probably mentioned that to each other. Just like when (Patrick) Kane was out, guys just picked up the slack.”
Jaxson Stauber made 34 saves and faced three penalty kills, the last a six-on-four Flames advantage. He earned a second win in just his second NHL game, having beaten the St. Louis Blues on Saturday in his debut.
The Hawks snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 15-28-4. They’re 7-5-0 in January.
The highs
Stauber became the third Blackhawks goaltender to win in each of his first two NHL appearances, joining Gilles Meloche (on March 16 and 19, 1971) and Hugh Lehman (Nov. 17 and 20, 1926).
Stauber has been unflappable in pressure situations in a way that belies his experience.
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“Looks really solid and calm in there,” Richardson said. “They’re a big team and they get to the net and they were trying to get secondary chances there. He just makes a save and even if there’s some scrambling going on, he doesn’t scramble.”
Should we call him “Trick Shot” Raddysh? Raddysh took a seam pass rom Domi and looked to beat Markström to his stick side, then the puck banked off the goalie’s side, hitting the netting and dribbling across the line.
Credit Philp for a pair of heads-up plays. In the first period, he was bracketed along the wall in the neutral zone but he managed to make a pass to Johnson to spring him for a breakaway. Markström denied Johnson but it doesn’t take away from an artful move by Philp.
“That was a great pass by Philper,” Johnson said postgame on NBC Sports Chicago+. “Trying going under Markström’s arm I think caught his side of the belly there. But great play.”
In the second period, Philp centered a pass to Katchouk in the high slot, and Katchouk one-timed it.
Dickinson scored in the second period, but what was more eye-opening was him centering the top line with Kane and Andreas Athanasiou. Toews was out sick, but the Hawks didn’t miss a beat with Dickinson as a top-six center.
“I wasn’t sure it would work,” Richardson said. “But Dicky was skating well tonight, making plays.”
Lafferty scored his eighth goal this season, with five coming this month and three in the last four games. As red-hot as Lafferty has been, his third line has been productive as well. Colin Blackwell and MacKenzie Entwistle assisted on his goal and Blackwell had several scoring chances himself.
But what really impresses Richardson is that they take care of business on defense and let that generate offense.
“When they turn the puck over they’re going right to the net,” Richardson said. “They’re those hard-nosed straight-line guys. Not a lot of swooping on lines like that. They go straight through you, play the body defensively and glad to see them get rewarded.”
The lows
Less of a low, more of agonizing missed opportunities for Blackwell. In the second period, he had a dead-on shot that Markström pad-saved. Blackwell had another crack with the puck sitting by the post, but he couldn’t lift it over Markström’s skate, bowing his head on the goal post in exasperation after.
Blackwell had another golden opportunity midway through the third period when Jake McCabe knocked Trevor Lewis off the puck and the Hawks counterattacked. Blackwell had Markström all to himself but couldn’t get the wrister to go. He just let his stick drop to the ice and looked skyward.
“Blacky had three chances tonight, and I think he was getting frustrated,” Richardson said. “And he made a really nice play to Lafferty, so I was glad he got that.”
There was a stretch in the third period where the Hawks gave up eight unanswered shots on goal. After the first two shots Lafferty lost a defensive zone faceoff, the Flames rattled off six shots within 50 seconds.
Injury report
Toews sat out of the game with a non-COVID-19-related illness.
“He just said this afternoon he wasn’t feeling good,” Richardson said. “He just felt achy and not great.”
Toews’ absence opened up the lineup for Katchouk to see his first action since Jan. 3.
Where they stand
The Hawks are 15-28-4 (.362), just ahead of the last-place Columbus Blue Jackets (.344) and have are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.
Up next
The Hawks don’t practice Friday and will wrap up their road trip against the Edmonton Oilers Saturday night.