The Blackhawks achieved another great victory for a two-game win streak that could’ve been a four-game streak if they could’ve defeated the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Anaheim is in a three-game skid, following a 2-1 win against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, March 6th. Connor Bedard had an NHL career-high five-point game (one goal, four assists), and Philipp Kurashev scored two goals and recorded two assists in Chicago’s 7-2 victory.
Ducks lineup against the Blackhawks:
Meyers – McTavish – Killorn
Vatrano – Strome – Terry
Leason – Lundestrom – Silfverberg
Johnston – Groulx – Regenda
Fowler – Zellweger
Mintyukov – Gudas
Vaakanainen – Lindstrom
Gibson
Dostal
Blackhawks lineup against the Ducks:
Foligno – Bedard – Kurashev
Blackwell – Dickinson – Anderson
Athanasiou – Johnson – Raddysh
Donato – Entwistle – Johnson
Vlasic – Jones
Korchinski – Megna
Tinordi – Zaitsev
Mrazek
Soderblom
Brett Leason started the scoring at 9:21 of the first period with his ninth goal of the season to give the Ducks the lead. Leason scored short-handed on a wrist shot at the left face-off circle during a 2-on-1 setup from Cam Fowler’s long pass. Soon after Leason’s goal at 8:33, Ryan Donato tied the game 1-1 on the power play when he scored the rebound of a shot by Taylor Raddysh after he fed him the puck from behind the net.
Scoring his second of the night and the final goal by Anaheim, Brett Leason put them ahead 2-1 early into the second at 18:09. He sent a wrister between Petr Mrazek’s pads off a pass from Urho Vaakanainen. Philipp Kurashev tied it 2-2 for his 12th goal of the season when he received a cross-ice pass from Connor Bedard and scored from the right circle. Giving Chicago their first lead of the night, Seth Jones made it a 3-2 game after he had taken a pass from Nick Foligno during a 4-on-3 power play. Later into the middle frame, Bedard gave the Blackhawks a two-goal lead with 28 seconds remaining for his 20th of the season with a one-timer.
MacKenzie Entwistle struck his fourth of the season to push it to 5-2 early into the final frame at 17:17. He scored in front after the puck had been carried to the net by Andreas Athanasiou. Scoring his second of the night and his 13th of the season, Philipp Kurashev took a pass from Connor Bedard in the right circle on the power play at 16:50. At 9:54 for the 7-2 final, Tyler Johnson scored a power-play goal at the crease off a pass by Bedard.
Connor Bedard on the win, mindset, and Philipp Kurashev: “We haven’t had too many back-to-backs like that, so to build on that, it was good… I always try to go in with the same mindset and try to play the same – I think I’m just trying to stick with what works,” – “I’m just trying to give him a puck. I think he’s so good at getting himself open when someone else has it, and I love playing with him. He’s so skilled.”
Philipp Kurashev on the game and Petr Mrazek jumping into the fight: “I think it shows we’re working on it hard and we’re getting on the same page, and we kind of know where each other is going to be. That makes it easier and we’re battling more, getting pucks through… so hopefully, we’ll keep going like that,” – “It was just great… It’s good to see the guys step up for each other, that’s what makes it a fun game.”
Notes:
– Connor Bedard surpassed the previous NHL career-high he had of a four-point game at the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 9th.
Bedard joins Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (five assists in 2011, November 19th), Ilya Kovalchuk (one goal, four assists in 2002, January 19th), Dale Hawerchuk (three goals, two assists in 1982, March 13th), and Jack Hamilton (four goals, one assist in 1943, December 4th)… the fifth 18-year-old in NHL history with a five-point game. Both Nugent-Hopkins and Kovalchuk are the only other players who had four-assist games at the age of 18.
Bedard also joined Hawerchuk as just the second teenager in NHL history with eight points in two games.
– Nick Foligno recorded four assists, and Petr Mrazek made 27 saves for Chicago.
– Andreas Athanasiou recorded two assists and had three shots on goal, 16:03 of ice time, in his first game since being out due to a groin injury he sustained on the 9th of November against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
– John Gibson made 20 saves on 26 before he was replaced by Lukas Dostal, who made four saves on five.
