The Chicago Blackhawks were riding high coming into action on Saturday night. They had won their previous two games, having beaten the Buffalo Sabres in overtime at home on Tuesday and the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night in Philly. With the way the season has gone, a winning streak is the least anticipated thing to happen to the Blackhawks. Jaxson Stauber got the call in net for his first NHL start, trying to keep the good times rolling for Chicago.
— The Blackhawks would open the scoring on their first shot of the game, with Jason Dickinson putting a beautiful Sam Lafferty pass past Jordan Binnington at the 9:33 mark of the first.
— Then, on their second shot on goal of the game, Lafferty got in on a breakaway and beat Binnington five-hole to make it 2–0 Blackhawks. It would stay that way through the remainder of the first.
— Binnington actually managed to stop a couple of shots before the Blackhawks could score again. But, two minutes into the second period, Colin Blackwell fed Reese Johnson right in front of the net, who put the puck past Binnington, giving the Blackhawks a 3–0 lead.
— Jake McCabe got called for tripping at the 17:13 mark of the second period. This led to the Blues getting their first goal on the board, with Jordan Kyrou putting a wicked wrister past Stauber to get the score to 3–1.
— At the 16:01 mark of the period, Andreas Athanisiou wristed a shot right through the Blues’ defense and past Binnington, making it 4–1 Blackhawks.
— Over 10 minutes later, the Blues would strike again, with Kyrou getting the puck to Ivan Barbashev down low, who backhanded the puck past Stauber, and getting the Blues to within two goals once again.
— It would take until the 10:45 mark of the third for another goal to be scored. This time, old friend Nick Leddy took a pass from Colton Parayko and hammered it home, making the score 4–3 Blackhawks.
— After a couple of other chances in the game, Max Domi worked a give-and-go with Tyler Johnson and put the puck past Thomas Griess, scoring a dagger of a goal and ultimately giving the Blackhawks the 5–3 victory.
— Stauber made 28 saves in the first win of his young career.
The Blackhawks are back in action on Sunday night against the Los Angeles Kings. That game will be at 6 p.m. CST on NBC Sports Chicago.