Hagel helps Chicago Blackhawks pick up another victory

Near the end of a Zoom interview with reporters two weeks ago, Blackhawks forward Brandon Hagel was asked why he's so relentless on the forecheck.

"Well," the 22-year-old said, "it's not very fun playing without the puck."

Good call.

It's obviously much more fun to score or set up teammates, which is exactly what Hagel did during a spectacular first-period sequence Monday night at Detroit.

After picking off an errant pass in the neutral zone, the rookie flipped the puck to the sideboards and motored after it with D-man Jon Merrill in pursuit. Two seconds later, the lightning-fast Hagel was sweeping a pass right onto Dominik Kubalik's stick.

All Kubalik had to do was redirect it for an easy goal that gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

After that, the Red Wings dominated the rest of the way and tied the game at 2-2 early in the third period. Somehow the Hawks got the game to overtime and prevailed when Kubalik scored with 17 seconds remaining.

"Well, we stole one. ... Not one we're gonna frame," said coach Jeremy Colliton. "But we did get two points and they can't take them from us. Now the challenge is that we're much better (in the rematch) on Wednesday."

Hagel - one of the few players on his game vs. the Red Wings - has stood out from the moment he was inserted into the lineup at Florida on Jan. 19.

"I knew that he's a great skater, but I didn't expect he's that good a skater," Kubalik said. "He can actually fly."

There's much more to Hagel's game than offense, however.

His away-from-the-puck IQ belies a player of age. A great example came midway through the second period when a backchecking Hagel alertly broke up a potential breakaway in the neutral zone.

"I can see myself a little bit in him," said Mattias Janmark, who got the Hawks on the board at 4:19 of the first period. "Working hard, skating, responsible defensively.

"It's easy in the start (for rookies) to do it for like five games, but he's kept it up really well. We're already 17 games in and every night he's out there buzzing around and creating."

Hagel was selected by Buffalo in the sixth round of the 2016 draft but never came to terms on a contract with the Sabres. He ended up inking a three-year deal with the Hawks in October 2018, then went on to rack up 41 goals and 61 assists for the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL (juniors).

Last season Hagel led Rockford with 19 goals.

And now, his star is decidedly on the rise in Chicago.

"I don't want to stop, I'm not satisfied," Hagel said. "I want to be the best I possibly can (be) in this league. I want to do everything I can to help this team win and my goal is to win a Stanley Cup.

"Until then I'm not going to be satisfied with where I'm at and anything that's going on. That's where my head's at."

Malcolm Subban made 29 saves in net for the Hawks (8-5-4).

Nikita Zadorov, Pius Suter and Carl Soderberg all registered assists, and Reese Johnson was credited with 5 of the Hawks' 10 hits.