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Lankinen redeems himself in Hawks' OT win

The Blackhawks' 6-5 loss to Columbus on Thursday boiled down to a number of factors, none greater than their inability to control the puck in the final minutes.

But there was another issue - and that was the play of Kevin Lankinen.

The rookie netminder yielded 6 goals - and while some were undoubtedly not his fault - it's tough not to blame him for the game-winner. It came when Kevin Stenlund fired a shot that went right through Lankinen's legs with 1:14 remaining.

Despite the rough outing, coach Jeremy Colliton didn't hesitate to start Lankinen in the rematch with the Blue Jackets at the United Center on Saturday.

"It's a hard league. So you're going to be tested every day," Colliton said beforehand.

"Just love his composure, love his demeanor, love how he carries himself and wanted to give him the chance to respond ... instead of sitting on it for a bunch of days."

Lankinen responded incredibly well, only giving up a pair of goals in a hard-fought 3-2 overtime victory. Alex DeBrincat notched the winner by batting in a bouncing puck with 4:25 left. It was his sixth goal in the last five games and team-leading eighth overall.

"That was the perfect revenge from the other night," Lankinen said.

The Hawks (7-5-4) trailed 2-1 and were held completely in check by Columbus in the third period until Carl Soderberg came through and tied it with 4:45 remaining.

Lankinen finished with 29 saves, the biggest coming on back-to-back shots from Michael Del Zotto with 3:14 and 3:13 remaining.

"It's 2-1 there for a long time and he keeps us in long enough where we can get a turnover and bury that one," DeBrincat said. "He's been huge for us and he's a big part of why we've had these wins and why we're surprising some people."

Columbus' only goals came on a nasty shot from Patrik Laine at 6:39 of the first period and on Cam Atkinson's tip of a Zach Werenski blast at 14:47 of the second.

Lankinen managed to put Thursday's game behind him quickly, despite the heart-wrenching nature of the loss.

"I didn't think about it too much," he said. "I was disappointed I wasn't able to make those saves at the end to give the team the chance to win. But at the same time, there's so many games.

"You can't really dwell on one game. You've just got to move forward and think ahead."

That's exactly the mentality Corey Crawford brought to the position.

Give up 5 goals? No big deal.

Be better the next game and learn from the experience.

Lankinen did exactly that, and it bodes well for him and the Hawks moving forward.

"The puck goes sometimes wherever," Lankinen said. "It's hard to read some situations. The biggest learning lesson from the other night was to just make sure you always find the puck; just be ready whatever happens."

Oh, and stick with it. Because even though Columbus was frustrating the Hawks down the stretch, it takes just one bounce to turn things around.

And that's exactly what happened when Philipp Kurashev alertly poked the puck away from Zach Werenski and right to Soderberg in the offensive zone. Soderberg corralled it, turned, fired and tied the game.

"I just like that we stayed in it," Colliton said. "We were one shot away and we continued to be one shot away until we got our chance. ...

There wasn't much going on. But just believe if we keep them off the board we're going to come through."

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