The Chicago Blackhawks ended a five-game winless streak with a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks at United Center on Monday. Ryan Donato led the Blackhawks with two goals and two assists, while Ilya Mikheyev contributed a goal and three assists. Connor Murphy added a goal and an assist, and Spencer Knight made 24 saves for Chicago.
“It’s great,” said Donato. “We had a lot of guys get on the score sheet tonight, and that’s what we work toward every game. It’s fun to play that way and definitely great to get the win.
“I always say when I get to go to church on Sundays, that’s when I feel good for the games, and I felt good tonight.”
The Blackhawks improved their record to 22-25-9 after going 0-3-2 in their previous five games. Head coach Jeff Blashill noted the importance of scoring for team morale: “Nice to be able to score, and the other thing it does is, when guys score, they feel better about themselves,” Blashill said. “It gives guys confidence, and confidence matters a ton in every league, but certainly this league. So hopefully we can carry that forward a little bit.
“We haven’t won enough lately and just to be able to score. Listen, as a coach you’d love to win 3-1 and all that stuff, but to score six matters. Guys feel better about themselves when that happens, and I know how important confidence is. So it was a good thing for our guys.”
For San Jose (27-23-4), Macklin Celebrini had a goal and an assist as the team dropped its third straight game (0-2-1). Yaroslav Askarov started in net but allowed four goals on ten shots before being replaced by Alex Nedeljkovic midway through the second period.
Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky addressed his team’s recent struggles: “We’ve been punched in the mouth and in the gut right now,” Warsofsky said. “We’ve got to move forward. It is what it is. There’s a lot of hockey to be played. We’ve got to learn from it. This is probably a new situation (a playoff race) for where we are right now, and I think it’s kind of getting to us in a sense. We’ve got one game left until the (Olympics) break. We’ve got to really zero in on the things we need to do that have made us have success up to this point. We’ve got to dust off, stand up, get a good practice in tomorrow and be ready for Colorado (on Wednesday).”
Chicago took an early lead with Connor Bedard scoring on the power play at 7:00 of the first period; Bedard has now scored in three consecutive games.
San Jose managed only one shot on goal during the first period. Celebrini commented on his team’s slow start: “We took three penalties, and we really couldn’t get anything going,” he said. “We’ve got to be better with that. We’ve got to be better with sustaining O-zone pressure. We got one shot, and they got the puck out of the zone pretty quickly. We’ve got to play better from the start and limit those penalties.”
Murphy extended Chicago’s lead early in the second period before Donato made it 3-0 later in the frame.
“I feel pretty good,” Murphy said regarding his recent performance alongside defensive partner Matt Grzelcyk. “I feel healthy lately. I feel like I got in a groove playing with (Matt) Grzelcyk as a partner for a while… After that, trying to be a little more poised with the puck and make passes and breakouts.”
Donato described his first goal: “I haven’t even watched it yet,” he said.“I know I got buried after it, so it hurt a little bit, but it was lucky to go in, and a lot of guys made a good play to make that happen.”
After Sam Rinzel put Chicago up 4-0—prompting San Jose’s goalie change—Will Smith scored San Jose’s first goal midway through the second period.
Mikheyev quickly restored Chicago’s four-goal advantage before Celebrini brought San Jose back within three late in the second period.
Shakir Mukhamadullin narrowed Chicago’s lead further early in the third period before Donato sealed Chicago’s win with his second goal late in regulation.
Notable milestones included Celebrini surpassing Ron Francis for seventh-most NHL points by a teenager at 144 points; Bedard set another franchise mark by recording his 21st career power-play goal before turning 21; Smith extended his point streak for San Jose.
