The Chicago Blackhawks waited almost three weeks to end a losing streak.
They won’t even have to wait 24 hours to try to build a winning streak.
The Blackhawks are looking to conclude their weekend in the New York City area in successful fashion Sunday night, when they are slated to visit the New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.
The Blackhawks snapped their eight-game losing streak Saturday night, when they never trailed in a 5-2 win over the host New York Rangers. The Islanders were off Saturday after suffering their second straight defeat Friday night, when they fell to the visiting Nashville Predators 4-1.
Chicago’s win provided some much-needed relief, after it lost six games by two goals or more during their eight-game skid (0-7-1).
Max Domi scored twice Saturday for the Blackhawks, who raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first 30 minutes. They were never seriously threatened in winning for the first time since Nov. 12 and for just the third time in 17 games (3-10-4) since opening 4-2-0.
The margin of victory was tied for the Blackhawks’ largest of the season. Chicago also beat the San Jose Sharks 5-2 on Oct. 15.
“I’m just happy for the players because we’ve deserved a little more success than we’ve had lately,” Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson said. “Some of the downfalls are our own fault, but there’s still been a lot of good hockey played by this team that we didn’t get any results (for). So I’m just happy they got some results tonight.”
Patrick Kane added a goal and two assists on a milestone evening. The three points gave him 1,200 points for his career, making him just the 50th NHL player to reach that number.
The Islanders have lost at least two straight games for just the third time this season. New York has scored one goal in each of its last two games and has been limited to three goals or fewer six times in seven games dating back to Nov. 19.
But there were plenty of opportunities for the Islanders on Friday night, when they finished with a season-high 49 shots and generated 16 high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Head coach Lane Lambert said the Islanders could have created more opportunities in front of the net — a screen by Anders Lee helped set up Mathew Barzal’s goal shortly beyond the midway point of the third period. But he mostly categorized the loss as an example of a team of not getting rewarded for a persistent effort.
“There were probably moments when we needed more traffic,” Lambert said. “If we did, perhaps one goes in. I thought we did a good job of generating chances. Their goaltender (Kevin Lankinen) played well.
“You probably win that game eight out of 10 times. It just wasn’t to be tonight.”
–Field Level Media