ANALYSIS: Lankinen, Borgstrom Lead Response in OT Loss to Wild

On one hand the Blackhawks bounced back in a big way on Saturday night, leading for a majority of the game against the same Minnesota Wild team that took a lopsided 5-1 win 24 hours earlier in the home-and-home opener. But on the other, having a strong effort, holding a pair of leads in the third period and then falling 4-3 in overtime still left a bitter taste in the mouth as the team departs St. Paul.
"Great response. Totally different team from last night," interim head coach Derek King said. "Very happy with our effort, our compete level. Could've got some bounces maybe go in for either of us, but that's hockey. We'll take that point and move on and build off of it."
"Pretty hard-fought game, pretty close," captain Jonathan Toews said. "Obviously felt like we deserved to win the way we played… We've got to close those out. We're in a position to finish that game and we've got to do what we've got to do to shut the door."

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI at MIN
RECAP: Blackhawks Fall to Wild in OT, 4-3
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks at Wild
GALLERY: Blackhawks at Wild

LOOKS FOR LANKINEN

Chicago entered the weekend expecting Kevin Lankinen to start on Saturday night in Minnesota, but the netminder got a jump start on his action replacing Marc-Andre Fleury in net during the second period of Friday's game and closing out the remainder of the contest.
Fleury had started eight straight games for the Blackhawks since the blue crease duo was removed from COVID protocol in early January, backstopping Chicago in all five games of their unbeaten streak that ended on Friday.
"It's huge," King said of getting Lankinen back into the net for the first time since Dec. 18 this weekend. "He's had that long layoff, too. As much as I didn't like having to pull a goalie in a game, I think it kind of benefitted Lanks because we didn't have a morning skate. That was kind of his pregame warmup for this game."
The netminder looked calm and confident throughout the game at Xcel Energy Center, stopping 40 shots overall on the night, including all 20 he faced in the second period when the Wild were tilting the ice in their favor.
"Huge," Toews said of the netminder. "Big on the penalty kill, especially when that team's feeding off the energy in their building and they're coming at you. Lanky was there all night. He made some really big stops for us."
"I thought Lanks played a great game for us... He looked good," King said. "That's a good hockey team. He sees a lot of traffic and they're really good at getting shots through. He saw some chaos in front of him but he handled it well."

BORGSTROM DELIVERS

When asked before the game what he wanted to see from Henrik Borgstrom -- who was a healthy scratch 24 hours earlier -- on Saturday night, King said, "He just has to compete, win the puck battles."
The winger showed just that in the first period of play, picking the pocket of Ryan Hartman just inside the Wild blue line as the former Blackhawk attempted to skate the puck out of the zone. Borgstrom kept the offensive zone play alive, put a shot on net quickly and then seconds later tipped home an Erik Gustafsson point shot for the game's opening goal.

He added another greasy goal in the third to put his team up 3-2 late, whacking not once, not twice, but three times at a loose puck in the crease before it slipped between the legs of Kaapo Kahkonen for his first multi-goal game as a Blackhawk.
The fourth line as a whole -- with Ryan Carpenter and MacKenzie Entwistle -- came up big for the team despite limited ice time overall, especially in the opening two periods.
"They were good. I had them on the D-zone draws a lot of times," King said of the trio. "They'd start in the D-zone and they'd finish their shifts in the offensive zone. That's what you want from your fourth line. And then they muck in two goals, so that's a bonus."
"We've been talking about that in the locker room that this is basically playoff hockey for us and we need guys all over our lineup to make big plays and step up and make big plays and score big goals and we got that out of [Borgstrom] and Carpy," Toews added. "It's nice to see that contribution and I think throughout our lineup guys played good and stepped up. We'll find ways to win if we keep playing like that.

INJURY BUG

Both Jujhar Khaira (lower back) and Riley Stillman (left shoulder) were placed on injured reserve on Saturday morning.
Khaira missed Friday night's game against the Wild with what King described afterwards as back spasms, but because he was placed on IR retroactively to Jan. 17, the forward is eligible to return as soon as Monday's game in Denver -- though King said on Saturday the team would have to evaluate it as they go through the week.
"It's just going to be day by day," he said. "He might be able to meet us on the road, but we're not sure yet -- if it's even worth it."
Stillman was injured late in the second period of Friday's game at home, leaving the ice favoring his shoulder after a collision along the boards. King didn't have a timeline yet on the severity of the injury, but said he would take it day by day as well.