TAKEAWAYS: Toews Makes Return After Two-Month Absence in Loss to Devils

The puck hadn't dropped between the Blackhawks and the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night when some of the loudest cheers of the evening erupted inside the United Center -- right as longtime captain Jonathan Toews was introduced in the starting lineup.
The game itself -- a 6-3 loss despite a back-and-forth opening half -- didn't matter as much for the Blackhawks faithful as seeing No. 19 back on the ice, and healthy, his first game back since Jan. 28 after dealing with symptoms of Long COVID and Chronic Immune Response Syndrome. Throughout the night, they took in, and cheered for, every moment -- every time his face adorned the scoreboard at center ice, every time he touched the puck near a scoring position, and especially when he showcased vintage Toews skill by threading a needle to find Andreas Athanasiou at the weak-side post for a third-period goal.

"I'm just trying to focus and concentrate in the game but no doubt you hear that when you step on the ice. It felt good to to get that coming back tonight," Toews said of the fan reception. "Unfortunately, we couldn't find a way to win. Either way, it feels good to receive that from the fans and we're gonna keep playing hard for them."

"It was good to have him back," head coach Luke Richardson said. "I thought he was a big presence on the bench, very vocal, and made a nice play (on Athanasiou's goal) … I thought he gave us some energy when we switched lines up a little bit that third."
In his first game back, Toews skated just 14 minutes of ice time, including nearly a minute of power-play time. While he admitted things weren't 100% right out of the gate, especially against one of the fastest teams in the league across the ice, he eased into the game as it went along and capped his return with the assist to Athanasiou midway through the third. What didn't need time to get back up to speed was the veteran's skill at the dot, going 8-for-12 (66.7%) -- a full four percentage points above his season average that was already the best of his career.
"It's not gonna be perfect whenever you step in after missing a month or two," Toews said prior to the game. "Part of finding your conditioning again is just getting back into games, so I was kind of looking to do that as soon as I could. Obviously we're running out of games for the rest of the year, so nice to find a chance to do that tonight."
Toews has been candid recently that, one way or another, he knows there's a chance these could be his final weeks as a Chicago Blackhawk -- a pending unrestricted free agent at the end of the season regardless of his health. It's undoubtedly been part of his motivation to get back into the final few games this season, looking to enjoy every minute.
"I think that's one of the biggest lessons I've learned through this whole process, is just not look too far ahead, and [I'm] doing the same thing right now," he said.. "So just enjoy these last bunch of games before the year with the players and the training staff and everyone that has been a part of the Blackhawks family here, and then we'll go from there."
Chicago has six games left in their regular-season campaign that Toews looks to soak in -- two more of which come at home over the final week.

STREAKING HAWKS

Tyler Johnson scored in a third straight game to get Chicago on the board and tie the game 1-1 in the first, his first three-game goal streak since March of 2019.
Lukas Reichel netted his third goal in the last five games in the second to briefly take a 2-1 lead, but New Jersey answered with two goals in the following five minutes to jump back in front. The rookie now has points in four of his last five skates.
Athanasiou netted a goal for the second straight game of his own in the third period finishing off the Toews feed.
Taylor Raddysh picked up a pair of assists for the second straight game, his seventh multi-point game of the season as the only Blackhawks player to appear in all 76 games.