The Chicago Blackhawks won their second game in a row on Thursday night, but continue to lose in their pursuit to finish last in the league, in an effort to best position themselves for the No. 1 overall draft pick.
Alex Stalock made 35 saves and the Hawks beat the Nashville Predators 2–1. Lukas Reichel opened up the scoring in the first period off a broken play. Attempting to slide the puck over to Andreas Athanasiou on a 2-on-1 break, Reichel’s pass deflected off of defenseman Dante Fabbro and crossed the goal line as the net was being dislodged.
The 1–0 lead would carry over to the third period. Eight minutes into the third, Boris Katchouk won a puck battle behind the net and fed it to a wide-open Joey Anderson. Anderson put away his second goal as a Blackhawk to make it 2–0.
Roman Josi would make it 2–1 with 25 seconds left, but the stellar play of Stalock was enough to secure the victory.
Chicago is now five points ahead of Columbus in the NHL standings. Finishing near but not dead last will not eliminate the Hawks from winning the lottery for the No. 1 overall pick, but a last-place finish would secure a top-three pick in the draft. With every win, the Hawks are hurting their chances at being in the best draft position possible.
Chicago heads to the desert to face the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday. Puck drop is at 9:30 p.m. CDT.