ANALYSIS: Kubalik Rebounds, Blackhawks Falter Late in Vegas

The Blackhawks were 20 minutes away from their first perfect road trip of the season, but a desperate Vegas Golden Knights team in a battle for a playoff spot erased Chicago's 3-0 lead in the final period as the visitors fell in overtime, 5-4.
"I thought the first two periods were pretty good," said Dominik Kubalik, who scored the game's opening tally. "Then the first one (they score), right away (they score) the second one -- it (shook) us a little bit. We should be willing to have a good shift right after when they score, just get it in, just be simple.. We kind of let it slip away."

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI at VGK
RECAP: Blackhawks Fall to Golden Knights in OT, 5-4
VERDICT: A Conversation with GM Kyle Davidson
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks at Golden Knights
GALLERY: Blackhawks at Golden Knights
INSIDER: GM Kyle Davidson Breaks Down Deadline Dealing
"Anytime you give up a three-goal lead in the third period, it's obviously not good," Dylan Strome said. "They just built the momentum there and we couldn't really stop it."
"We stopped and watched and they pushed and pushed," interim head coach Derek King added of the momentum shift. "We still could've won the game. Pretty good road trip and something to learn from that is adding to our identity and what type of team we're going to be. We have to learn from that -- when you get back on your heels, turn the tide and tilt the ice the other way."
Chicago still heads home with five of a possible six points over the three games.
"You've got to take the positives," Strome added. "Good road trip, five out of the six points, so look at the positives and let's move on to Monday."

BOUNCE-BACK KUBY

For just the third time in his career, Kubalik was a healthy scratch on Thursday night in LA. King explained before the game the winger needed to simplify the game.
"He's got to get back to not thinking about the game, just going out and playing. He's overthinking it, big time," the coach explained. "Sometimes you need to hit that reset button. "
"As a player, you don't want to be in that situation. You want to be out there and you want to play," Kubalik said. "I know that I have to be better, that's for sure. There's nothing else to say."
Back in the lineup in Vegas, Kubalik relied on his instincts early, throwing a one-timer towards the net from the point that took a deflection through traffic in front and found the five-hole of Logan Thompson for a 1-0 lead.
"Finally today I felt like my old self," Kubalik said. "I was getting chances, I was in the right areas and I just need to keep building on that."
"He had a really good game," King said after. "I think that was one of the better game's he's had for opportunities to shoot the puck and score some goals."
Kubalik had a pair of chances in the third period as well, and another point-blank look in overtime that Logan Thompson denied to keep Vegas' comeback bid alive. He admitted, the overthinking might've crept back into his game.
"You always want more. You don't want to stop at one. You want to show that I'm still able to score and create good chances and help the team like that," he said. "Especially in overtime whenever I get it from Stromer, I was overthinking it then. I should just get it and shoot it. I was trying to make a move, which is not my game. I've got to stick with what I'm doing best and that's just shooting."
"I kind of just laid it in there and I think he just missed it going forehand," Strome said. "Nice to see him get back on the scoresheet and I think we've all seen how well he can score goals. He had tons of chances tonight, so hopefully he can do that again on Monday."
The third-year forward has a history of bouncing back after a healthy scratch. In his rookie season, Kubalik also scored in the very next game after an early November sitting.

REMAINING ROTATION

With just over a month left in the regular season and a surplus of bodies particularly in the forward rotation after bringing in a pair of players in Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk with only one, Brandon Hagel, leaving the mix, King said he plans to rotate some of the younger players in and out of the group over the remaining now 16 games.
Henrik Borgstrom, Phillip Kurashev, and MacKenzie Entwistle, in particular, will likely find themselves in and out of the lineup as a result, King said. Borgstrom returned on Thursday night as Kubalik sat out to reset, but with Kubalik back in the mix Saturday, it was Kurashev left the odd-man out in Vegas.
"We've only got so many games, I'd like to try to get guys in and let them show, prove that they've earned a spot and finish strong," King said before the game. "Kurashev (sitting is) not based on the way he plays, just more just a rotation... Kurashev, Borgstrom, guys like that. Entsy. I'll figure out a little schedule for those guys to get them their games, their reps and it'll be good."
The rotation, he cautioned, is not a guarantee of ice time without merit.
"They've got to earn it still. There's still that accountability. I'm not just going to throw ice time at guys because this isn't developing, it's giving them an opportunity to be in the lineup," King continued. "Now it's what they do with it. Hopefully they all work hard and play well and do all the little things we asked them to do and they'll get there."
Meanwhile, the trip was been one to observe and learn for rookie Alex Vlasic, who was scratched all three games, but still took the ice in warmups in Vegas as he continues to gain his NHL bearings. The plan, King said, is to get him back into the lineup soon.
"I think just the pace, the quality of play. Watching our D, watching Seth Jones, D on the other team, how they play, how their gap is, how they move the puck -- just getting a feel for the league and watching," he said of what the young D-man can pick up on from the press box. "It was a tough trip because we didn't have a bunch of practices, but he'll get his reps in when we get home and he'll get warmup here, just being around that NHL atmosphere is going to be important."