*Photo from the Chicago Tribune*
Since Derek King took over as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, they have not lost. That streak continued on Wednesday. Alex DeBrincat scored, Patrick Kane scored, and the Blackhawks defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Wednesday night.
The Blackhawks won their first road game of the season, out of 7 they have played. It's also their 4th straight win, having not lost since King took over as interim head coach after Jeremy Colliton was fired early in the season. They've improved to 5-9-2 this season, 7th place in the Central Division, and 13th place in the Western Conference playoff picture.
DeBrincat, who scored his 9th goal of the season on Wednesday night, picked up the Gordie Howe hat trick, providing a goal, assist, and fighting Seattle's Yanni Gourde after a hit on Kane. Brothers Seth and Caleb Jones also played together on the Blackhawks as teammates for the first time in their careers, after Caleb was activated from LTIR prior to the game.
Kane said of DeBrincat's goal that "DeBrincat is a guy that I think he's been known as a shooter since he came into the league. He's so good at finding open areas where he can get open and be able to get a shot off. So good that he's going to be able to score a lot of the time."
Seth Jones scored first for the Blackhawks, striking 15:03 into the first period, recording his 300th NHL point on his second goal of the season to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead, assisted by Kane and DeBrincat. DeBrincat made it a 2-0 lead when he scored 2:01 into the second period, on an assist by Kirby Dach, making it 2-0 Blackhawks after two periods.
In the 3rd, Kane scored his 6th goal of the season 5:36 into the 3rd period, making it a 3-0 Chicago lead. On the power play, Jared McCann got the Kraken on the board, with his 6th goal of the season cutting the deficit to 3-1. With 1:49 left in the game, Gourde scored his 4th goal of the season to make it 3-2, making things interesting. Jake McCabe scored on an empty net shortly after to seal the 4-2 Blackhawks win.
Kane said of the near comeback in the 3rd period that "We've got to figure out a way to play a little bit better with the lead. Just seemed like it was a lot of like chasing the puck, get it out of the zone, and they come out and do the same thing over and over again. It's not really the recipe for success. That should be the fun time to play hockey, and when you have the lead, the other teams take chances, and you can take advantage."
Marc-Andre Fleury made the start in goal for the Blackhawks, riding a bit of a hot streak himself. Fleury turned aside 31 of the 33 shots on goal by the Kraken, posting a .939 save percentage in the win, bringing his season total to .901 this season. Fleury's record also jumped up to 4-7-0 in 11 starts so far this season.
On the Kraken side of things, Philipp Grubauer got the start in what was another loss, the 5th straight for the Kraken. Grubauer saved 15 of the just 18 shots on goal he faced, posting a lackluster .833 save percentage in the loss. His record now drops to 4-8-1 in 13 starts so far this season.
McCann said of the losing streak that "Wish I had an answer for it. It's frustrating. We need to clean it up. I'm frustrated. I want to win. I think everybody does on our team. You know, things aren't going our way right now. But we're shooting ourselves in the foot. That's the way it is."
The Kraken get back into action on Friday night against the Colorado Avalanche, with Grubauer back in goal against his old team. The Blackhawks square off against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, with Fleury likely to get the start.
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