Chicago Blackhawks split home series with Columbus Blue Jackets

The Chicago Blackhawks are playing much better now than they were to start the season.

It was tough circumstances for them as they were dealing with an injury-depleted roster that wasn’t very good, to begin with anyway. Now, they seem to be playing a little bit better and Kevin Lankinen has been giving them a bit more stable goaltending. They are going to struggle in this central division but they can certainly make the elite teams work a little bit.

The Chicago Blackhawks played well enough to split a weekend set with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Chicago wet into this two-game set with Columbus on a five game point streak. That streak was broken on Friday when the Blue Jackets earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory. Of course, the Hawks need to score more. In this game, they went down 2-0 and it felt like it was impossible to come back. Well, Dylan Strome’s power-play goal (assisted by Patrick Kane and Dominik Kubalik) got them within one.

The Hawks came close to tying it at the end of the game (more than once) with the goalie pulled but it would not go in for them. Their power play is going well and Patrick Kane always provides offense but those two things alone can’t be the only scoring the team gets. They had 32 shots on goal but they were only able to get one goal.

In the second game two days later, things changed a bit. Philipp Kurashev scored by tipping a Patrick Kane shot to make it 1-0. The Blue Jackets worked hard to get it tied on a goal by Boone Jenner but that would be it for their scoring. Pius Suter and Patrick Kane each added a goal later in the game for Chicago to win the game by a score of 3-1. Suter, Kurashev, and Kane all scored a goal but Lankinen’s goaltending was the story again. He made 32 saves on 33 shots to secure the victory.

We keep saying that whatever line Kane is on can’t be the only five-on-five scoring but you can’t really expect much more than that at this point. Alex DeBrincat is out with COVID-19 issues and Kirby Dach, Jonathan Toews, and Alexander Nylander are all out of the lineup long-term. They need Kane to be the offensive catalyst and they won’t win many games on nights he’s not. That is just the way that this team is built right now. The good goaltending from Lankinen also helps.

Columbus isn’t the most talented team every year but they are perennial playoff contenders because they outwork their opponent on most nights. Well, you can’t really say they did that to the Hawks in either game. Both teams were focused and in the game during both contests. Columbus is a better team than Chicago on paper but the guys battled hard.

The Blackhawks have one of the biggest tests they will face this season on Tuesday night when the Carolina Hurricanes come to town. In most people’s opinion, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the best team in the division but the Carolina Hurricanes are right there. They have had some games canceled because of COVID-19 but make no mistake about it, they are elite and a Cup contender. The Blackhawks will need to put all of their positives together to have a chance in this game.