Colin Blackwell Notches First Career Hat Trick in Blackhawks 7-4 Win

CHICAGO – What were the first two words from Colin Blackwell when asked about his emotions after cinching his first career hat trick?

“Thank God,” he said with a chuckle. There probably wasn’t any divine intervention in the game, but it certainly looked like the Hawks would need all the help they could get early on in the game.

The Hawks instead helped themselves with seven goals in a 7-4 win over the Arizona Coyotes. Along with Blackwell’s hat trick, Connor Bedard came just one goal short of his first hat trick. Tyler Johnson and Ryan Donato added the other markers while Seth Jones had four assists.

The seven-goal outburst as as many in their last four games combined. Against the Coyotes, Chicago has scored 12 goals. Before that 5-2 win on Tuesday, it took a combined eight games to register 12 goals.

In an coincidental twist late, Blackwell and Bedard had a two-on-one where Blackwell opted to pass instead of shoot. Bedard missed wide, but with an empty net, luck would have it where Blackwell was on the ice with the puck on his stick. He didn’t miss and the hats rained down onto to the United Center ice.

Blackhawks Didn’t Start Out Well

Arizona jumped out to a 2-0 lead, the second goal coming just 11 seconds into the second period. It didn’t look good for a Blackhawks team that had just lost a night earlier 4-1 and never recovered from an avalanche of goal.

Instead, they flipped the script. First it was Bedard on a fluky goal he banked in off a Coyote. The next was Blackwell corralling a rebound and finishing it off into the empty net. Bedard struck again on the power play with a nifty toe drag before burying it. Then he assisted with a quick pass to Tyler Johnson before Blackwell registered his second of the game in the third period.

Arizona got one from former Hawk Nick Schmaltz who pulled the Coyotes within a goal at 5-4. But Ryan Donato scored less than two minutes later with a wrister that deflected past Ingram to make it 6-4.

Connor Bedard became the first 18-year-old in @NHLBlackhawks history to post three career three-point games. Patrick Kane is the only other player in franchise history with two.#NHLStats: https://t.co/Rm4Bk2ReWe pic.twitter.com/r9zYkwkrLe

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 11, 2024

This Blackhawks team, for whatever reason, has the Coyotes number and took it to them for a second straight time. No, it wasn’t a four-goal power play performance, but they exploded for four goals in the second period.

But the night belonged to Colin Blackwell, whose energy was rewarded with the first three-goal game of his career.

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