ANAHEIM, Calif. — Even without the three guys they dealt at the trade deadline, the Blackhawks still own the Ducks.
Dylan Strome tipped in a perfectly placed shot-pass from Riley Stillman to break a tie with 3:50 left as the Hawks beat the Ducks 4-2 on Wednesday.
“It was going both ways — we were opening up too much for my liking at times,” interim coach Derek King said. “But [Kevin Lankinen] made some saves when we needed them — good for him — and then the power play capitalized on our chances.”
Sam Carrick scored twice for the Ducks, including the tying goal with 6:32 left, but the Hawks were unfazed in a building that has been kind to them.
“I like the fact we didn’t get rattled when they scored to tie it up,” King added. “Now we just felt comfortable with our game and we kept going at it and [earned a] big goal at the end.”
The Hawks swept the season series against the Ducks, out-scoring them 15-5 over the three games, and have won seven straight versus Anaheim dating to the start of 2019. Both teams have fallen off considerably since meeting in the 2015 Western Conference Finals, but the consistently lopsided nature of their recent matchups is a strange pattern.
Patrick Kane casually tallied another three points — he now touts 27 in his last 13 games — and Taylor Raddysh scored his third point in three games since joining the Hawks. Those two and Alex DeBrincat fueled a clicking power play that struck twice in the first two periods.
Lankinen, handed back the keys to the Hawks’ starting goalie role, looked fairly sharp for the second consecutive game and finished with 27 saves on 29 shots.
“That’s what I’ve been working for, even after last season coming into this season: I wanted to be the guy,” Lankinen said. “Obviously we had [Marc-Andre Fleury] and the situation was a little different, but I’ve been working extremely hard. This is my time to shine and I’m going to make the most out of it.”
