THREE THINGS: Dylan Does It, Dual Kill and Ping City

The Blackhawks realize that if they are going to make a late run up the Western Conference standings, they need to take care of business at home.
In the first of 11 of the next 15 games to be played at the United Center, the Blackhawks did just that with a convincing 6-2 victory over the Ducks on Tuesday night.

Dylan Strome had two goals and an assist, Patrick Kane and Alex Nylander each had a goal and an assist and Drake Caggiula also scored to help the Blackhawks secure their third consecutive victory.
CHI 6, ANA 2
WRITTEN
Full Box Score
RECAP: Hawks Down Ducks, 6-2
VIDEO
HIGHLIGHTS: CHI 6, ANA 2
RAW: Colliton on Win vs. ANA
RAW: Strome on Three-Point Night
RAW: Crawford on Win
GALLERY
GALLERY: Blackhawks vs. Ducks
"We're playing more together in the D-zone, we're helping each other out, talking more, getting more clean plays out of the D-zone, which leads to better offense," said Nylander, who scored his ninth goal of the season with a nice move off an odd-man rush. "We're getting the pucks to the net, more guys are coming to the net and we're playing an overall solid game. We've been getting better and better throughout each game."
The Blackhawks blew open a 2-1 game with four goals in the second period, including three in 2:53 of play and two (Nylander and Kane) during a span of 15 seconds.
"It felt good," Strome said. "(We had) a lot of chances and we were fortunate (Tuesday night) that they went in. Big second period and it's nice to get three in a row here."
Corey Crawford was the recipient of the Blackhawks' offensive outburst to earn the win in goal while John Gibson suffered the loss for the Ducks.
Danton Heinen and Carter Rowney each scored for the Ducks, who dropped their second in a row.
The Blackhawks upped their home record to 14-13-4 and overall mark to 30-28-8 and remain six points back of the second Western Conference wild card.
"They're not going to quit - they're never going to give up," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said of his team. "There have been multiple times through the year where people could have said - and probably did say - this group is dead and buried. But there are lots of games left, lots of home games left, and we've shown we're resilient. Ultimately, it's just finding that consistency in our game. We have a lot of young players, and that is going to be a challenge, but I think we're improving all the time."

Here are three takeaways from the Blackhawks' victory:

DYLAN DOES IT

Strome picked a good time to snap a 14-game goalless skid with his 11th and 12th markers of the season. It marked the second multi-goal game of the season for Strome, who last found the back of the net Jan. 5 against the Red Wings.
"It was a long time," Strome said, who then joked with the media about the scoring drought. "I appreciate you guys not asking about it all the time. That was nice, actually. I knew, obviously. It's nice to get off the schneid (Tuesday night). It felt pretty good."
After Strome's first goal, which came when he chopped in a puck that had caromed off the end boards, the center looked to the sky in relief.
Strome added his second of the game when he guided a pass from Kane past Gibson.
"When we have (Crawford) back there we're very confident in him," Strome said. "He's a heck of a goalie and he's done that for a long time. When they're getting pretty good chances and he's making it look easy it's just more confidence for us to go back down and put some in for him."

DUAL KILL

Almost lost in the shuffle of the Blackhawks' goal-scoring binge was a momentum-shifting penalty kill in the second period. With the Blackhawks holding a 2-1 lead they went down two men for 24 seconds after consecutive penalties to Kane and David Kampf.
During the Ducks' 5-on-3, Crawford made a big save on an Adam Henrique attempt from in close while the Blackhawks had two glorious chances at the other end while shorthanded on breakaways by Brandon Saad and Caggiula that Gibson stopped.
Instead of having the game tied - or worse - the Blackhawks rode the momentum of the big kills and opened up the offense to put the game away.
"It was big," Colliton said. "They scored the goal to make it 2-1 and I thought we were really coming and they got a little bit of life, then we end up having to kill a couple of penalties. So that was big for us. We got back to it, playing the way we want to play the rest of the period. But if it's a tie game or whatever, obviously things would be different. So a lot of good things there."

PING CITY

The Blackhawks' offensive onslaught could have been more potent had they not drawn iron on four occasions. During one shift in the opening period, Strome and Nylander hit the post within seconds of each other and in the second, Strome did it again by redirecting a shot by Adam Boqvist (two assists) off the post. Later in the second, Duncan Keith clanged another off the crossbar.
Strome was asked if it was frustrating to see so many shots bounce off posts.
"Well, before I scored it was frustrating, yeah," Strome said with a smile. "It happens sometimes. The hockey gods were with us (Tuesday night) and gave us six goals."
Said Nylander of the close calls: "That shows that we were doing well in the O-zone. Stuff like that is going to happen. Next time it's going to go post and in. We just have to keep doing what we did (Tuesday night) and it will get even better."