Blackhawks blast Ducks, know they must be better at home
The Blackhawks sold out another home game Tuesday.
No surprise there as the sellout streak at the United Center now stands at 528, including playoffs.
What is surprising is that - even after a 6-2 victory over Anaheim - the Hawks are a pedestrian 14-13-4 at the UC this season.
Considering the Hawks are 16-15-4 on the road, one would expect that mark to be better. And if it were, coach Jeremy Colliton's squad wouldn't find themselves 6 points out of a wild-card spot.
They'd be right there. Right in the thick of things.
"Early on there were a lot of nights where we were just too complicated with the puck and frustrated when it didn't come easily," Colliton said Monday. "That got in the way of our willingness to battle and compete, especially defensively. Too many easy goals against."
That certainly didn't happen against the Ducks as Corey Crawford made 37 saves, 16 of which came in the first period. Dylan Strome snapped a 14-game goal-scoring drought by scoring twice, and the Hawks also got goals from Drake Caggiula, Alex Nylander, Patrick Kane and David Kampf.
Nylander and Kane scored 15 seconds apart late in the second period to extend the Hawks' lead from 3-1 to 5-1.
Before the game, captain Jonathan Toews stood up and talked about the importance of taking advantage of this stretch in which the Hawks play 10 of their next 14 games at home.
"We've actually been pretty good on the road this year," said Strome, who now has 12 goals. "But our home record hasn't been good enough. So we're trying to really dial that in. ...
"We love playing here. The rink's sold out every night. Just got to keep finding ways to win."
The Hawks did so Tuesday by exploding offensively but also by keeping the Ducks from cashing in on tripping penalties by Kane and Kampf at 5:54 and 7:30 of the second period.
It was still a 2-1 game at that point, so a goal could have changed everything.
"That was big for us," Colliton said.
Strome scored his second goal six minutes after Kampf's penalty was killed off to make it 3-1.
Nylander then showed why he has the potential to be a special talent with a filthy backhanded shot that beat John Gibson at 18:07. Seconds later, Nylander fed Kane from behind the net and the rout was on.
Kane now has 29 goals, tying him with Dominik Kubalik for the team lead. Nylander has 9 goals and 14 assists.
Now we'll see if the Hawks can keep this up and keep their playoff hopes alive.
"There's been multiple times through the year where people could have said - and probably did say - this group is dead and buried," Colliton said. "But there's lots of ... home games left, and we've shown we're resilient.
"Ultimately, it's just finding that consistency in our game. We have a lot of young players, and that is going to be a challenge, but I think we're improving all the time."
Slap shots:
Defenseman Lucas Carlsson, playing in his fourth NHL game, recorded his first point by assisting on Dylan Strome's second goal against Anaheim. ... Adam Boqvist (2 assists) had his first multi-point game. ...
Erik Gustafsson had 2 assists in his first four games since being traded to Calgary, which went 2-1-1 in those contests. ... Robin Lehner stopped 32 shots in his first appearance with Vegas, a 4-2 victory over Buffalo on Feb. 28. Vegas had won eight of nine before hosting New Jersey late Tuesday.