Still fighting: Hawks hold on for impressive 4-3 win over Oilers
If you've followed the Blackhawks all season, you know what a crazy roller-coaster ride it's been for the players, coaches and fans.
Every time it looks like they're making headway, they drive right into the ditch.
Yet, somehow, some way they end up pulling their wrecked car out of that hole, get their mechanics together and put together a stretch that keeps their playoff hopes alive.
That latest stretch continued at the United Center on Thursday as coach Jeremy Colliton's squad jumped out to a 4-1 lead and staved off a furious rally to beat Edmonton 4-3.
Alex DeBrincat scored twice, Patrick Kane recorded his 30th goal of the season and Jonathan Toews also scored as the Hawks (31-28-8) ran their winning streak to four.
"We can really string something together," Kane said. "We knew at some point we were going to have to go on some type of run."
It was an impressive performance on many fronts for the Hawks, who held Edmonton to 12 shots through two periods, only 3 of which came from Connor McDavid (32 goals) and Leon Draisaitl (43). In addition to putting silencers on Edmonton's superstars, the Hawks did all the little things that add up to a victory:
• Dominik Kubalik and Brandon Saad picked multiple pucks out of mid-air, flipping the ice and creating high-quality scoring chances.
• Slater Koekkoek laid out to block a McDavid blast with 6:16 left in the first period.
• Adam Boqvist (2 assists) laid a crunching hit on Tyler Ennis and played a heady, aggressive game all night.
• Duncan Keith (27:48) and Connor Murphy (26:00, 5 hits, 3 blocked shots) did yeoman's work and kept the Oilers from getting many prime chances in the final three minutes.
• Alex Nylander (assist), Kirby Dach (assist) and David Kampf (7-for-9 on faceoffs) weren't perfect, but they also stepped up at times and helped contribute to perhaps the biggest win of the season.
"The older guys, the top guys, they're playing hard. They want to win," Colliton said. "The biggest difference is the young players. We've got a lot of them and they're all getting better, at different speeds.
"Some guys have a really good week and then take a step back. They're not all getting better at the same rate, but they're getting better.
"And that adds up to some depth and some excitement in the group and confidence. It's fun to coach."
The Hawks took a 3-0 lead in the first 25 minutes on goals by Kane, Toews and DeBrincat.
Edmonton trimmed the lead to 3-1 a minute after DeBrincat's goal, but the snakebit forward made it 4-1 at 13:02 of the second period on a wrist shot that sent Oilers goalie Mike Smith to the bench. It was DeBrincat's 18th goal of the season and his sixth in the last 14 games.
The Oilers made things interesting in the third period when Josh Archibald (8:03) and Kailer Yamamoto (8:52) scored 49 seconds apart at 8:03 and 8:52, but Corey Crawford stoned Leon Draisaitl on a point-blank attempt with 2:49 remaining and the Hawks held on.
The Hawks play again Friday night at Detroit, which should be an easy victory considering the Red Wings have won just three of their past 23 games.
But if anyone knows not to take a team lightly, it's the up-and-down Hawks.
"We've got to realize that we need every point that we can get and we can take nothing for granted," Colliton said. "We're far from the type of team that can just lace em up and think it's just going to happen."