Maybe the Chicago Blackhawks are fast learners.
In a rematch of the Hawks’ loss six days ago, the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights were putting on a clinic early in the first period, scoring two goals on two shots in the first four minutes from Pavel Dorofeyev and WIlliam Karlsson.
But in the second half of the period, the Hawks tilted the ice in their favor.
By the third, tied 3-3, it was full-on battle, which the Hawks won 4-3 on Philipp Kurashev’s overtime goal Friday at T-Mobile Arena to halt the Knights’ seven-game winning streak.
The Hawks became just the second team in NHL history to rally from a multiple-goal deficit to end a team’s season-starting seven-game streak. The only other instance was in 1985-86, when the Islanders ended the Nordiques’ 7-0-0 run.
“Give them credit,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said, “they came out really hard, and they do that in this building.
“(But) I heard Dickinson yelling at the guys encouragingly, ‘Come on, we’ve got to start this off and get it turned around.’ And sure enough I thought we really battled hard the rest of the way.
“Even on some obstacles, we had some penalties to kill, we lost a defenseman (Alex Vlasic) — five ‘D’ on the road. It was tough and the guys really fought.”
Ryan Donato put the Hawks on the board with a wrister off Corey Perry’s backhand pass at 13:20 of the first. Connor Bedard ripped a shot past Adin Hill, set up by Nick Foligno’s no-look chip to Bedard as he stormed up the middle, tying the score 1:19 later.
“That first goal got us going,” Richardson said.
The Hawks and Knights fought to a stalemate in the second, but Taylor Raddysh gave the Hawks their first lead in the third. He nabbed a lazy breakout pass from Alex Pietrangelo, breezed by him and flicked it by Hill 1:11 into the period.
But Vegas ramped up the pressure, and Shea Theodore scored to tie it at 3.
The Hawks penalty shut down Vegas’ power play for the third time and the game headed to overtime. Then Karlsson tripped Bedard to give the Hawks their first power play of the game.
During the 4-on-3, Kurashev nailed the winner to snap a three-game losing streak.
“I mean, it was not the best looking 4-on-3 I ever saw, but we got it done,” Kurashev said. “So just tried to get the puck on net and luckily it went in.”
The Hawks can take lessons from win too.
“First 10 minutes doesn’t dictate the 60, so it was good for us to have a bounce-back there,” Bedard said. “It was good to beat a team like that.”
On the injury front, Alex Vlasic took a high hit from Brett Howden in the second period and was helped off the ice, and the Hawks rotated pairings with the remaining five defensemen.
Richardson couldn’t say for certain whether Vlasic would be evaluated for a concussion.
Earlier in the period, Jason Dickinson blocked a shot with his foot and hobbled off before returning.
Here are six takeaways from the win.
1. One subtle play forced a big momentum swing.
And it all started with a player who didn’t even record a point: Lukas Reichel.
Before Donato talked about his goal, he credited Reichel and his line with Dickinson and Raddysh — the shift before Donato’s — for laying the groundwork.
“Reichs did a great job putting the puck in the right place and keeping it away from their goalie on the entry, and sometimes when you get the puck to good players like Perrs, he’s going to make a great play,” Donato said. “He found me in the slot, the puck was spinning a bit, I just realized I wasn’t going to get that shot up that I really want, so I just pulled it in, tried to shoot it on the ice as quick as I could and it’s a blessing it went in.”
It seemed to have a huge effect on the psyche of both teams.
“They were buzzing at the start, and we had a great shift from that Reichel line,” Kurashev said. “They set up the next line and we got a goal. And then after that we took the momentum a little bit.”
Richardson said coaches had shown ReicheI video to illustrate how he doesn’t need to throw the puck away in certain situations. He put that into action in this situation.
After Reichel’s linemates had changed, “two new guys came on, and he did a hard rim by the goalie, which we retrieved … and that’s what ended up being the first goal,” Richardson said.
2. The overtime goal came from one marathon shift.
It just kind of happened.
The Hawks worked a delayed penalty and couldn’t come up with anything. Then they went into their regular power play before Kurashev found daylight for the winning goal.
Because of the way it unfolded, Kurashev, Bedard, Corey Perry and Seth Jones stayed out for the entire 2 1/2-minute shift.
“Tired, yeah,” Kurashev said. “But we also had the puck a lot, so that gives you a lot of energy. Got to battle through it and we got it done, so that’s really good. “
Ironically, Kurashev probably felt like he got too much rest while missing the first six games with a wrist injury.
On Friday, he was flying around on the top line with Bedard and Nick Foligno and put in overtime in, well, overtime.
“With him coming back, he’s really excited to be back, and both games he’s been so noticeable,” Bedard said. “For him to get that one was really exciting. All game, he was buzzing and working plays down low and he had a lot of puck possession.
“Fun for me to play with him and he’s a big addition for him to be back in the lineup.”
3. Who knew Nick Foligno still had moves?
Foligno wasn’t satisfied chipping a no-look centering pass to Bedard on his goal. The 35-year-old had to go and dangle defenders in the first period and put the spin-o-rama on Alex Pietrangelo in the third.
“He’s been an All Star … and he’s a really good player, so that was a sick pass,” Bedard said. “He had a toe drag too. He was humming tonight.”
The human highlight reel amused his teammates.
“The guys were laughing in the third period on the second one,” Richardson said. “They’re like, ‘Who is this guy?’ They said, ‘Oh, yeah, he’s on the first line.’ They had a lot of fun with it on the bench.”
“It was eye-popping for sure,” Bedard said. “It was fun to watch.”
4. Connor Bedard made history again (yawn).
As long as he’s an 18-year-old (which he’s going to be for this entire season), chances are Bedard is going to set league and franchise “youngest“ marks, whether they’re lofty records or plain obscure.
On Friday, he became the youngest player to score in each of his first two games against the defending Stanley Cup champions, according the NHL Stats. He notched goals against the Golden Knights on Oct. 21 and Friday.
This means the offense for him it going to open up now, right?
“I don’t know. I guess,” Bedard said. “I have a couple goals here. I haven’t thought about it like that too much. I had probably more shots in the other games I didn’t score.”
5. Ryan Donato has rebounded from his slow start.
Before the game, Richardson was making the case that Donato’s dismissal from the top line isn’t the end-all, be-all it might seem to be.
“He plays with heart and grit and with two other workers, sometimes it just works better because they’re on the same page on the forecheck,” Richardson said. “Whereas sometimes if you have more skilled players (such as Bedard), they’re going to pull back and slow down the game a little bit and make some higher-skilled, less-upbeat plays.”
Donato certainly didn’t “slow down” against the Knights. He looked a like a demon with his pants set on fire — and that’s after he scored the Hawks’ first goal.
“Sometimes it takes one and you start feeling good, things start bouncing the right way,” he said.
Said Richardson after the game: “He was good. He even could have shot the puck a little more.”
Donato, who played on the third line with Perry and Tyler Johnson, shook off any notion he was disappointed Foligno replaced him on the top line.
“This team has definitely got guys up and down the lineup that can play,” he said. “I prepare the same way. I do whatever the coaches need and whatever my teammates need.”
6. Andreas Athanasiou was scratched for the first time this season.
MacKenzie Entwistle drew in for him and made an impression on the fourth line.
While Athanasiou had a lackluster night Tuesday against the Boston Bruins at the United Center — as evidenced by the Hawks’ season-low 27.8% expected-goals percentage when he was on the ice — he’s not in the dog house.
“I don’t think he’s played poorly, I just said we need more out of him,” Richardson said before the game. “We need more of his speed and his dynamic offensive play. And that’s not to be risky, but just a little bit harder game.
Richardson said he rose to the challenge in Thursday’s tough-love practice for the whole team, and “he’ll be right back in there shortly.”
“But it’s just the message to the team, it just happens to be Double-A,” Richardson said. “I really value him and think he’s a great NHL player, but if you’re not playing at the top of your game, then then you’re not you. And so we want someone else to have an opportunity.”
