Strome, Blackhawks pound Ducks to win 3rd straight

[March 04, 2020]    Dylan Strome had two goals and an assist, and Patrick Kane and Alex Nylander each had a goal and an assist as the host Chicago Blackhawks earned their third straight victory with a 6-2 rout of the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.

Chicago broke the game open with four goals in the second period, including the final three in a span of 2:53. Adam Boqvist tallied two assists for the Blackhawks, whose recent flourish has put the team six points out of the final Western Conference wild-card spot entering the last month of the regular season.

The Ducks, meanwhile, started a two-game road back-to-back with their sixth loss in eight games (2-5-1).

Chicago opened the scoring at 2:07 of the first period, as precision passing from Kirby Dach and Boqvist set up Drake Caggiula in front of the net. He buried an open tip-in past Anaheim goaltender John Gibson for his ninth goal of the season.

Another goal early in the second period put Chicago ahead 2-0. Strome gathered a Duncan Keith shot that ricocheted off the end boards and beat Gibson with the rebound at 3:46.

The Ducks, who outshot the Blackhawks 16-6 in the first period, channeled that pressure again 34 seconds after the Strome goal. A defensive breakdown by Chicago helped, as well, as Danton Heinen scored his ninth of the season on a tap-in past Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford, who stopped 37 of 39 shots.

Any momentum for Anaheim subsided about 10 minutes later. A pair of lengthy transition passes from Lucas Carlsson and Kane set up Strome's second goal at 15:29, producing the first NHL point for Carlsson, a rookie defenseman.

Nylander scored unassisted at 18:07, and just 15 seconds later, Kane capped the second-period blitz with his 29th goal of the season, off a feed from Nylander.

The Ducks cut the lead to 5-2 at 8:26 of the third when Carter Rowney tipped a point shot by Jacob Larsson past Crawford. David Kampf brought the Chicago advantage back to four with a goal at 15:03.

Crawford has allowed two goals or fewer in 11 of his past 16 starts.

Gibson stopped 19 of 24 shots before Ryan Miller entered in relief and stopped 15 of 16 shots.

--Field Level Media

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.