Four takeaway: The winning streak continues as the Blackhawks beat the stars in the home final



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Here are four points to remember from the Dallas Blackhawks' 6-1 win at the United Center on Friday:

1. Finish hard at home

The Blackhawks may no longer be in the running for the playoffs, but they have not done so yet. With a win Friday night, the Blackhawks extended their point series to five (3-0-2).

They also finished the season with a 19-14-8 record at home following a 18-18-5 record last season. They went 4-1-2 in the last seven games at United Center.

"The barn is new," said coach Jeremy Colliton. "A lot of energy, nice to see us put pucks in the goal and everyone can feel good about themselves, obviously we can keep a positive feeling for tomorrow.

Kane said, "We have to be good at home and I think it's something that's probably not been as good as it should have been in recent seasons. But it's still a pleasure to play here at United Center and we still feel the fans behind us, so try to use that to our advantage next season. "

2. Corey Crawford scared of injuries

There were only two games left for the Blackhawks, which should leave Crawford Friday in front of home fans for the last time this season and Cam Ward Saturday in Nashville for his 700th career NHL game. But the circumstances have changed.

While he had started, Crawford had left the game in the second period because of a groin injury which he seemed to be suffering at the beginning of the match by attempting to make a backup after the match.

Ward eventually replaced Crawford, who has not returned and will not be in Nashville for the regular season finale. But they do not foresee that his injury is serious. The Blackhawks will call goaltender Kevin Lankinen of the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League.

3. Personal achievements

It was a complete win for the Blackhawks, who had several important milestones.

Let's run them:

– With help, Erik Gustafsson became the sixth defenseman of the season to reach 60 points, joining Brent Burns (81), Mark Giordano (74), Morgan Rielly (72), John Carlson (70) and Keith Yandle (61) years). ).
– Patrick Kane became the first winger in the history of the Blackhawks to score at least 108 points in a season. Denis Savard did it four times as a center.
– Slater Koekkoek scored his first goal as a member of the Blackhawks.
– Chris Kunitz, who had a courtesy start in front of his family in Chicago, scored a goal in what could be one of his last NHL games. He is the only active player to have won four Stanley Cups.
– Ward became the fifth active goaltender to join the 700-game club, joining Ryan Miller (757), Marc-Andre Fleury (797), Henrik Lundqvist (857) and Roberto Luongo (1,043).

4. The sales series continues

Blackhawks fans have been spoiled. In nine consecutive years from 2009 to 17, their team took part in the playoffs each time and participated in five conference finals and three Stanley Cups. But they want more, and they should have more because of their situation prior to the Kane and Toews era. Nobody wants to come back to that time.

And although he missed the playoffs for the second year in a row, that did not stop fans from packing the building every night.

For the 11th season in a row, the Blackhawks dominated the NHL. Friday marked its 497th consecutive battle, in particular in the playoffs. It is difficult to see that it ends so soon.

A nice gesture on behalf of the organization to give back to the fans, the Blackhawks gave their season ticket holders the opportunity to upload a personal photo, which were then collected to create collages that have filled the players' warm-up jersey numbers for the final house. The jerseys will be signed and auctioned for a charity, with proceeds going to the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation.

"Tonight was great," said Kane. "And good all year, it was great, but tonight was great too, just the kind of ways to have the presence of mind to whistle in the end and a kind of thank you for the season itself. if we did not have the season of course, was it still close to 22,000 fans tonight I'm not really surprised anymore, but it's something we do not take it for granted here and we love to play in front of them. "

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