10 observations: Hawks beat Flyers for 5th win in 6 games originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Blackhawks rallied to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.
Here are 10 observations from the win:
1. The Blackhawks won in Philadelphia for the first time since Nov. 9, 1996 after going 0-16-1 over that span prior to Thursday. Chicago’s only win during that stretch came in the playoffs, which was the Game 6 overtime win to capture the Stanley Cup in 2010. Crazy.
2. The Blackhawks ended a six-game road losing streak with the win. They had been outscored 20-3 in those previous six outings. On the flip side, the Blackhawks won for the fifth time in six games. The Flyers made their push in the third period, but the Blackhawks played a solid overall hockey game and they did so without having a single power play.
3. The Blackhawks gave up the first goal midway through the first period and thought they tied it up nine seconds later, but the Flyers challenged for offside and won it. Quite frankly, it wasn’t close. Andreas Athanasiou was a few feet into the zone and the puck hadn’t entered yet. It could’ve been a bit of a deflating moment for the Blackhawks but they didn’t let it be.
4. The Blackhawks scored four unanswered goals starting in the second period by Jonathan Toews and Reese Johnson and later in the third period by Tyler Johnson and Philipp Kurashev, who tallied the empty netter. The secondary scoring has been evident over the last couple weeks.
5. Seth Jones has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his last three games and 10 points in his last seven. He had only 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in his first 26 games. The All-Star is really heating up, and you can see his confidence growing. His willingness to fire more pucks at the net from the blue line has been noticeable — and it’s working.
6. The Blackhawks killed off both penalties in this game and improved to 11-for-11 on the penalty kill over their last four games. They’re getting back on track in that department.
7. With Alex Stalock in concussion protocol, Petr Mrazek is expected to be the go-to guy for the time being and he followed up a solid performance against Buffalo with an even better one against Philadelphia. He turned aside 38 of 39 shots for a save percentage of .974. It was his third win in four starts after going 2-9-1 in his first 12.
8. Earlier this season, Caleb Jones played a whole game as the 12th forward. He’s a natural defenseman, obviously. In this game, Jones tried his hand at goaltending, making a terrific windmill desperation save to keep the score 2-1 Chicago. Easily the save of the game, and he might just garner some Vezina Trophy votes because of it.
9. Throwback Thursday: The famous Tie Domi vs. fan in the penalty box moment on March 29, 2001 happened right after he nearly fought Luke Richardson, who was with the Flyers at the time. Fast forward to today and Richardson is coaching Tie’s son Max with the Blackhawks. Funny full circle moment.
10. How great was it to see the Blackhawks’ red jerseys on the road? It used to be that way. I wish the NHL would go back to it.
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