Strome scores hat trick, Blackhawks beat Red Wings 8-5

When the first period ended at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, the story of the night figured to be all about the Blackhawks' Dylan Strome.

Struggling all season to find a consistent role and consistent production, Strome scored a pair of goals in less than two minutes and assisted on Sam Lafferty's goal with 32 seconds remaining.

The Hawks strutted into the locker room with a 4-0 lead and it looked like a blowout was in progress.

That is until the Red Wings stormed back with 3 goals in the second period.

Now we had to wonder if the Hawks were going to allow Detroit - just 5-9-3 in its last 17 games - to pull off a stunning comeback.

Strome would have none of it.

The veteran forward put an exclamation point on a career night by tipping in a blast from Seth Jones 6:10 into the third period, and the Hawks went on to an 8-5 victory.

It was the first hat trick of Strome's career and his first 4-point night.

"I don't know what he ate," Dominik Kubalik told reporters. "I bet it was something special. Everything he touched was dangerous."

Kubalik (10), Sam Lafferty (1), Alex DeBrincat (25, 26) and Brandon Hagel (11) also scored for the 16-20-7 Hawks, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Seth Jones and Patrick Kane had 2 assists.

Strome's campaign has been a rough one as he sat out the first four games and six of the first eight. He also missed three contests in mid-January while in COVID protocol. Strome now has 7 goals and 9 assists while winning a career-high 57% of his faceoffs.

"I've felt good the last 12 or 13 games, maybe longer than that," he said. "Once the offense starts coming, the ice time starts coming, you feel good and remember they signed me to a contract for a reason. I'm trying to prove that still."

Strome's third goal gave the Hawks a 5-3 lead and DeBrincat made it 6-3 at 8:55.

Unbelievably, the Red Wings weren't done and they got within 6-5 when Dylan Larkin scored with 4:35 remaining.

Hagel and DeBrincat iced the game with empty netters.

The Hawks went 2-for-3 on the power play. All 3 penalties were served by Pius Suter, who scored 14 goals for the Hawks last season.

The last time the Hawks scored 8 goals against Detroit came in 1992 at the Chicago Stadium.

Interim coach Derek King's squad opens a three-game homestand against Colorado, Vancouver and Minnesota on Friday.