ANALYSIS: Saturday Home Crowd Propels Blackhawks to Shutout Win

The message from interim head coach Derek King before puck drop was simple: "Saturday night, where would you rather be?"
In the lone Saturday night game at the United Center on the entire season slate, the building was rocking from start to finish, and the Blackhawks put on a show for the home faithful with a 3-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks, the team's fourth straight victory.
"He had a good point," said Patrick Kane, who netted a goal in his second straight game to put The Blackhawks up 2-0 in the third. 'It was fun to play in front of a crowd like that and I think knowing that we'd won three in a row before tonight probably brings a little excitement."

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI vs. ANA
RECAP: Blackhawks Shutout Ducks for Fourth Straight Win
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks vs. Ducks
GALLERY: Blackhawks vs. Ducks
"It doesn't happen very often," Riley Stillman added, fresh off extending his point streak to five games with an assist on the opening goal. "It's a special night, the place was jacked, it was jammed. That brings a lot of emotion for us on the ice when we hear the fans going the way that they're going… For us to have that momentum and that energy from the start of the game was something that really helped us."

HEATING UP

The Blackhawks have gone through the last four games with a little extra motivation in their game. After a rough start to the calendar year, Chicago, plainly put, laid an egg just nine days ago in Arizona, falling to the league's worst team 6-4. The players shut the locker room door after the loss, and set out to right the ship.
"I think everyone was a little frustrated," Kane said. "You're looking at that game as a way to end a losing streak and start something special. We obviously missed our opportunity there, but then you come back and you've got to be proud of the group."
"After that game, something sort of clicked for us," Stillman added.
Over the last four games, the Blackhawks have won just about every type of game imaginable. There was a shutdown, tight 2-1 win in Vegas. Then, a comeback win in Columbus, scoring three straight after falling behind early to take control en route to a 4-2 win. They dominated early, struggled in the second, and then fought back again on Thursday against Montreal, a 3-2 overtime win.

And then there was Saturday night -- at times a barn-burner full of end-to-end action with 73 combined shots on goal. Marc-Andre Fleury stood on his head when called on and the offense created, and importantly capitalized on, chances in transition the other way. Both Chicago goals before Dominik Kubalik's empty-net insurance tally went from one end of the ice to the other in a matter of seconds, turning a goal-line stand into a goal 200 feet away.
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"That's probably one of the best games we played for 60 minutes," King said. "We had hiccups and all that, but we stayed composed and we got the job done."
"It was a pretty complete game on all halves for us," Stillman said. "I think that we made a couple mistakes a couple different times and they swung momentum their way and they came at us, but for the most part that's a good game by us, a good game by Flower to keep us in it on the chances that they did have. That's a big game for us."

The thrill and the excitement played into the raucous home crowd, but it showed that the Blackhawks can play nearly any type of game they find themselves in when things are going right.
"Obviously we have to be good in our defensive zone," Kane said, "and that's something that we stress a lot, but we feel like we're a team that, if we focus defensively, we can be pretty good in transition, get some quick ups going and try to get some odd-man rushes and opportunities off the rush that way... Hopefully we're trying to turn a corner here and become a really good team."
"I don't want to get into this sprint race here where we're just opening it up and it's just chance for chance," King admitted. "It's going to happen during a game, but I thought we did a good job at controlling it."

STUDENT VS. TEACHER

Saturday's game was the first meeting as head coaches between King and Dallas Eakins, the man behind the bench for the Ducks. Eakins hired King to his first full-time coaching position as an assistant with the Toronto Marlies.
When King was named interim head coach in Chicago on Nov. 6, Eakins was one of the first people to reach out to his former assistant, instilling some advice and confidence in the process.
"He gave me my first start with the Marlies," King said shortly after being promoted. "He reached out with a little advice… We had a great conversation and he told me just to 'Trust yourself, be yourself.'"
King worked under Eakins for four seasons in Toronto before the head coach was hired by the Edmonton Oilers in his first NHL job. King's first season as interim head coach in Rockford in 2018-19 was Eakins' fourth and final leading the San Diego Gulls before taking the Ducks job for 2019-20. Toronto and Rockford, though, never met that season, making Saturday the first head-to-head meeting between mentor and mentee.
"It was nice. It was special," King said after the game. "You never want to see your buddy lose, but I'm glad we were on the right end of this. I won't rub it in to him. If he won, he would've rubbed it in to me, so I'll the pro here and be nice about it. But it was good, it was nice. Little text messages back and forth. We're happy for each other and we'll continue to battle each other."