Fresh off their ninth win of the season, the Chicago Blackhawks returned to United Center to host the Calgary Flames looking to make it two in a row. For the second straight game, the Hawks played without Patrick Kane who was still nursing an injured leg.
At 2:39 of the first period, Lukas Reichel scored his first career goal to give the Hawks a 1–0 lead. Reichel skated into the slot and made a no-look pass to Seth Jones who shot the puck from the point and Reichel tapped in the rebound.
Elias Lindholm tied the game at 1–1 on the power play with his 13th of the season as he tapped in a rebound at the 8:49 mark.
The Hawks regained the lead when Colin Blackwell scored his first in a Blackhawks sweater to give the home team a 2–1 lead. Blackwell capitalized on a rebound off a Sam Lafferty shot from the right circle at 10:10 of the first.
Just 35 seconds into the second period, Philipp Kurashev one-timed a feed from Reichel past Jacob Markstrom for his fifth of the season to give the Hawks a 3–1 lead. For Markstrom, it was his third goal given up on 11 shots in the game which led to a goalie switch by Flames coach Darryl Sutter, who brought in backup Dan Vladar.
The goaltending switch gave Calgary some life as just 27 seconds later, Jonathan Huberdeau scored from the slot for his eighth of the season which cut the Hawks’ lead to 3–2.
At the 9:40 mark of the second, Calgary tied the game on a power play goal by Nazem Kadri for his 16th of the season off a rebound right in front of Hawks netminder Alex Stalock.
After a scoreless third, the Hawks won it in overtime when Max Domi made some excellent stick moves in the slot then fed Reichel who dished it back to Domi who deked Vladar for his 12th and second OT winner of the season. For the second straight game, the Blackhawks won 4–3 in overtime.
As for Reichel, he notched his first career three-point night although his special night might have been wasted if it weren’t for the stellar night by Stalock, whose 44 saves included 38 of 39 at even strength.
The Hawks get a few days off before returning to home ice on Thursday night against defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche. The puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. CST.