SAN JOSE, Calif. — Seemingly nothing can stop the Blackhawks’ out-of-the-blue current winning streak.
Even without Patrick Kane — and Jonathan Toews and Sam Lafferty — the Hawks won their fifth straight game Saturday, edging the Sharks 4-3 in a shootout.
“It was a little bit sloppy sometimes...[but the] guys scraped it out,” coach Luke Richardson said.
Max Domi took over as the de facto offensive leader and continued his recent surge even without Kane — in whose stead Andreas Athanasiou moved up to the first line opposite Philipp Kurashev.
Domi took out his anger over a missed high-sticking call at the end of the second period by scoring 16 seconds into the third, then generated three glorious chances in overtime and ultimately tied a career high with eight shots on goal.
“Sometimes it takes a while for him to settle down, and scoring that goal did it for him,” Richardson said. “He was playing a little pissed off there and he was really skating. When he’s skating and shooting the puck, that’s when he’s at his best.”
The Hawks also got unlikely contributions from AHL call-ups David Gust and Brett Seney, who both scored their first goals of the season in the first period.
But goalie Petr Mrazek stole the show, making 45 saves during regular play — one off his season high — and then another three saves on three shots in the shootout to carry the Hawks to victory.
“[The Sharks] had some stuff in our D-zone, but guys did a lot of good stuff in front of me and I could see the puck early,” Mrazek said.
The Czech goalie has been ridiculously good in shootouts for a long time. Since the start of 2016-17, he’s 14-2 in them with an .830 save percentage, second-best in the NHL.
He attributed that success to how often the Hawks practice shootouts — and by that measure, it should’ve been no surprise to see Philipp Kurashev score the shootout’s lone goal, considering how much he dominates the comparable “two-puck” games in practice.
Even the Hawks as a team are now 8-5 in overtime and shootouts combined this season — a sharp contrast to their 13-32 record in games ending in regulation.
“We look to be patient in overtime, and then in the shootout, we’re just hopeful the guys remember the pre-scout on the goalie,” Richardson said. “Tonight was a good one.”
