Blackhawks rally from 2 goals down, hold on late for a win
It's not often we see an agitated, animated Jeremy Colliton screaming profanities at his players from behind the Blackhawks bench.
But like everyone, the even-keeled, button-downed coach has a breaking point.
And it was on full display after Columbus scored a pair of goals just three minutes, 13 seconds into Saturday's game at Nationwide Arena.
It was at that point Colliton called timeout, gathered everyone to the bench and tore into them for their lackadaisical start.
"Everyone watching the game and everyone in the building kind of knew what Jeremy was saying - just let's get going here," said Calvin de Haan to Comcast Sports Net's Eddie Olczyk during the first intermission. "There's some choice words I can't use, but it seemed to fire the boys up."
Did it ever.
The Hawks scored the next 4 goals, locked it down defensively by yielding a mere 5 shots over the next 36 minutes and went on to post a crucial 4-3 victory over the fading Blue Jackets.
"We just didn't look ready to play," Colliton said when asked why he called time. "It's a big game for us. Just wanted to hopefully get everyone's attention.
"I don't love using them, to be honest. You typically get enough time to speak to the team in the commercial timeouts and while the play's going on. But tonight just felt we needed it."
Alex DeBrincat (21), Carl Soderberg (7), Wyatt Kalynuk (1) and Dylan Strome (8) scored for the Hawks. Kevin Lankinen made 23 saves, 13 during an intense third period in which the Hawks had to fend off a desperate Blue Jackets charge that included a Patrik Laine goal with 49 seconds remaining.
De Haan notched a pair of assists, the first coming on DeBrincat's power-play tally midway through the first period. After faking a shot from the point, de Haan fed DeBrincat to get the Hawks on the board. It was de Haan's first power-play assist since the 2016-17 campaign.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, de Haan suffered a hip pointer in the second period and did not return. Colliton doesn't think it's a long-term injury but will know more "in the next couple of days."
Soderberg, a healthy scratch in the previous three games, whacked in a loose puck at 17:02 of the first period to even things up at 2-2. Ryan Carpenter notched his first assist of the season on the play.
Kalynuk scored at 3:07 of the second on a long shot that sailed through traffic. It was the first NHL goal for the rookie defenseman, who has played in the last six games.
"He was one of our better 'D' tonight," Colliton said. "He gave us some big shifts. Obviously nice for him to get that goal; it was a big goal. He keeps improving and earning more and more."
The Hawks improved to 19-18-5 and crept within 2 points of Nashville, which lost to Tampa Bay on Saturday. Columbus, which traded defenseman David Savard to Tampa Bay, is 15-20-8 overall an 2-7-1 in its last 10.
The teams meet again Monday for the final time this season.
Janmark sits:
With the trade deadline looming Monday, the Hawks decided to sit forward Mattias Janmark Saturday. Janmark, who has 10 goals and played in the Stanley Cup Final with Dallas last season, could be a valuable addition to a Stanley Cup contender.