DeBrincat scores twice for Blackhawks in win against Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Alex DeBrincat scored two goals for the Chicago Blackhawks in a 4-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.

Defensemen Calvin de Haan and Connor Murphy each scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves for the Blackhawks (13-18-5), who won the last two games of a three-game road trip. Patrick Kane had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (seven assists).
"We know the schedule is hard and tight, so it's important to string some wins together to build our team game and not take nights off," Murphy said.
Gustav Nyquist had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets (16-17-1), who have lost four of five and have not won consecutive games since Nov. 22-26, when they won three straight. Joonas Korpisalo made 16 saves.
"It's not a setback," Columbus coach Brad Larsen said. "It's disappointing we didn't have the energy, that's the one disappointment. We didn't give up much. It's not like we were getting peppered all night."

De Haan scored his first goal in 71 games with a wrist shot from the slot to give Chicago a 2-1 lead at 15:10 of his second period. He had not scored since Jan. 22, 2021.
Murphy, who grew up in Dublin, Ohio, made it 3-1 at 6:36 of the third when he one-timed a feed from Kane. It was his third goal of the season.
He is the son of former NHL defenseman Gord Murphy, who was a Blue Jackets assistant coach from 2002-10.
"Anytime you have your family come to a game, it's special," Murphy said. "It doesn't happen as much as I would like."
Nyquist scored shorthanded on a 2-on-1 with 1:21 remaining to cut it to 3-2, but DeBrincat scored an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left for the 4-2 final.
"We are in the thick of it and we let this one slip away," Nyquist said. "(I) thought it was a winnable game for us. It's tough to lose this one. It was kind of a weird game. It started off with eight whistles in five minutes. No flow to it.
"The third [goal], that's a tough one. That's my guy rolling on the flank. That's a breakdown on my part. Those are things that can't happen. I put us down 3-1."

Blackhawks coach Derek King said he was pleased to see de Haan and Murphy score.
"It's huge for where we are," King said. "Maybe some guys are not scoring right away, [but] you get contributions from other players and that's what we need."
Boone Jenner finished a backhand feed from Nyquist to give the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead at 12:51 of the first period.
DeBrincat tied it 24 seconds later at the edge of the right face-off circle off a pass from Riley Stillman to make it 1-1 at 13:15.
"Myself and the other leaders, we have to lead by example and bring everyone into it," Jenner said. "We have to up our level. It starts with us and goes through the lineup. It starts tonight, the battles and the energy and getting into the game a little bit more."
Chicago played without defensemen Seth Jones and Jake McCabe; each entered NHL COVID-19 protocol before the game. Jakub Galvas made his NHL debut and was plus-1 in 23:40 of ice time, including 6:53 on the power play and 1:51 on the penalty kill.
"I honestly can't sit here and lie about it, I was very surprised how good he was," King said.
It would have been Jones' first game against the Blue Jackets since being traded to the Blackhawks on July 23 for defenseman Adam Boqvist, a first-round pick and a second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, and a first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft or 2023 NHL Draft. Jones played the previous six seasons for Columbus, scoring 223 points (50 goals, 173 assists) in 381 regular-season games. He helped the Blue Jackets qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in four seasons and scored 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) in 31 postseason games.
NOTES: Chicago has won seven straight at Columbus. … Kane has scored 72 points (23 goals, 49 assists) in 55 games against the Blue Jackets. … Stillman has one goal and two assists during a three-game point streak. … Boqvist played his 100th NHL game; his first 76 were for the Blackhawks. … Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins was in uniform and served as the backup for the first time since he sustained a lower-body injury against the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 1.