Blackhawks Locker Room: Talking Special Teams and Relief from Win

The Chicago Blackhawks held on against the Florida Panthers, turning what could have been an all too familiar story on its head.

Going into the third period tonight, the Hawks led 2-1 courtesy of goals from Teuvo Teravainen and Craig Smith. While Chicago was outshot 15 to 6 in the third period, they managed to hold on winning 3-1 thanks to an empty net goal from Nick Foligno.

Foligno finished the night with a goal, an assist and two shots on goal. The Blackhawks captain dished out six hits over the course of 21 shifts tonight.

After the win, Foligno spoke of the relief of getting the win, not just after the empty netter but going into playing six on five hockey from a different perspective.

“It was a relief that we were playing six on five the other way,” Foligno said when asked about whether the empty net goal brought some relief. “That’s relief, like, let’s be the team in the lead here and not trying to get that next one to tie the game.”

Foligno might have scored the empty net goal, but he also was involved in one midway through the second period.

a smoooooooth move from Smitty😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/cRy3Q6gAzj

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 22, 2024

Foligno dished the puck to Pat Maroon who made a great play over to Smith. Smith managed to find the back of the net on a nice breakaway.

Quote of the night: “[Smith] scores a beautiful one and I said the average age on our line at that time was 90 – me, [Maroon] and [Smith].” said Foligno. 

That one definitely brought out a chuckle from the media scrum.

Chicago had a rare win across the board on the special teams side of things. The Hawks capitalized on an early power play courtesy of Teravainen and they managed to hold off a lethal Panthers unit.

Petr Mrazek made two big saves on a late power play for the Panthers.

“That was a huge part of the game, penalty kill and power play,” said Mrazek. “We got it done tonight.”

Richardson also spoke on the Hawks penalty kill postgame.

“The penalty killing came through,” Richardson said. “[Mrazek] was probably the strongest penalty killer, but I thought we were excellent, we were more aggressive and got pucks all the way down the ice when we had a chance and that frustrates the opponent.”

Jason Dickinson missed time tonight with a hand injury. While he did finish the game, Richardson said he would need to be evaluated.

“They will have to evaluate him, he was banged up, I don’t know if he was slashed or took a puck off the hand but he came back and gutted it out,” Richardson said. “He played real hard and solid in some real crucial moments in the third period. So, hopefully he’s all right.”

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