Blackhawks' Dach nets first career goal in loss to Vegas
In Kirby Dach's first game with the Blackhawks, the rookie forward got his feet wet during a 5-3 loss to Washington on Sunday.
In his second game, Dach made a serious splash by scoring his first NHL goal during a tense 2-1 shootout loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Dach scored 16:15 into the first period when he knocked in a puck - with his knee, mind you - off a feed from defenseman Olli Maatta.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, nobody else solved goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, and the Golden Knights prevailed thanks to Nick Holden's goal with 93 seconds remaining and shootout tallies by Jonathan Marchessault and Shea Theodore.
The biggest news of the night, however, came when coach Jeremy Colliton announced that D-man Connor Murphy will miss about two weeks with what is believed to be a groin injury. Murphy has teamed with Duncan Keith to help the Hawks hold their opponents to just 11 regulation goals over the past five games.
"Obviously that's a blow for us, but it's an opportunity for other guys," said Colliton, whose team is now 2-3-2. "We need to continue to build depth. We can't just play with six (or) seven 'D' all year."
Dach had an interesting game because while he scored, he also was only on the ice for 8:22 and his lone shot on goal came without the aid of his stick.
"He's playing well," Colliton said. "Not a ton of minutes tonight. I think that's partly all the special teams, and then at the end we're trying to defend a lead. We went with other guys down the middle.
"But probably could have had more points … so just keep going."
Said Dach: "It's my dream to play in the NHL, and two games in you've got your first goal. So that's pretty special, but at the same time pretty disappointed that we lost.
"My main focus is the team game and not myself. I've got to take a step back and realize what I can do better to help the team win and move forward tomorrow."
Lehner locked in:
Robin Lehner turned away 33 of 34 shots against Vegas, meaning the Blackhawks' new goalie has impressed in all three appearances. Lehner's most impressive save came when he somehow snared a Max Pacioretty one-timer with 22.8 seconds remaining in overtime.
Lehner's allowed just 5 regulation goals in three starts, while Corey Crawford has yielded 14 in four starts.
The veteran, who helped lead the Islanders to the playoffs last season, truly believes the Hawks are headed in the right direction.
"A lot of great hockey players on this club and we've seen it in spurts," Lehner said. "The last few games have been really, really good. Small, small details and we're going to be very dangerous.
"I'm really liking what I'm seeing from a lot of the guys. A lot of the young guys are playing great. Maybe it looks far away, but it's really close. It really is."
Hawks make trade:
The Hawks acquired 6-foot-3, 218-pound defenseman Ian McCoshen from the Florida Panthers on Tuesday in exchange for forward Aleksi Saarela. McCoshen, who will report to Rockford, was chosen with the 31st pick of the 2013 draft by the Panthers.
McCoshen has appeared in 57 NHL games the last two seasons.
Slap shots:
Ryan Carpenter has won 28 of 41 faceoffs (68.3 percent) over the last three games. He played a season-high 17 minutes, 50 seconds against Vegas. … David Kampf has 1 goal in his last 50 games. … Jonathan Toews has no points at 5-on-5 play this season. … Dylan Strome saw just 9:01 of ice time against the Golden Knights. … Brendan Perlini, Zack Smith and D-man Slater Koekkoek were the Hawks' healthy scratches against Vegas.