Kane, Strome help Blackhawks defeat Golden Knights for first time

LAS VEGAS -- The Chicago Blackhawks scored five unanswered goals for their first victory against the Vegas Golden Knights, 5-3 at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.

Patrick Kane and Dylan Strome each had a goal and two assists, and Kirby Dach had a goal and an assist for Chicago (7-7-4), which defeated Vegas for the first time in eight games (1-5-2). Corey Crawford made 39 saves.
"That was a fast game," Crawford said. "They're a really good hockey team. Obviously they were going to be hungry. It seems like they always come out hard in the first period there, but we didn't fold. We just kept playing."
WATCH: [All Blackhawks vs. Golden Knights highlights]
The Blackhawks extended their point streak to four games (3-0-1) and won for the fourth time in six games (4-1-1).
William Karlsson had a goal and an assist, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Vegas (9-8-3), which is 0-3-1 in the past four games.
"I think we got caught sleeping a few times," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "We didn't change from our game plan. Chicago's a good team … but for them to get, what, three or four breakaways in the first half of the game? I think it's people sleeping back there and not being aware."
William Carrier scored off a deflection at 2:58 of the first period to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.
Karlsson scored on the power play at 6:29 to make it 2-0, but Kane scored 16 seconds later to cut the lead to 2-1.
"We had some chances. We had some good looks, but it's the same thing; we're not capitalizing on our chances and that leads to chances back the other way," Golden Knights forward Mark Stone said. "We're getting frustrated when we don't score and we just started cheating a bit."

Forward Alex Tuch appeared to have scored at 3:54 of the second period to give Vegas a 3-1 lead, but video review determined the puck hit the crossbar without crossing the goal line.
Fifteen seconds later, the Blackhawks tied it 2-2 on Calvin de Haan's first goal with Chicago. Erik Gustafsson scored 45 seconds later to make it 3-2 at 4:54.
It was the sixth time in the past 25 seasons the Blackhawks scored twice in a 45-second span in consecutive games. Chicago scored two goals in 10 seconds against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-4 win Sunday.
"Hockey's a weird game and you can feel the momentum shift on the ice sometimes," de Haan said. "It took the wind out of their sails pretty quickly. We played a good second period for the rest of the period, I thought. It was definitely a big part in the game."

Dach scored at 3:57 of the third period to make it 4-2, and Strome increased the lead to 5-2 at 16:39.
Nate Schmidt scored at 19:00 for the 5-3 final.

They said it

"It seems like the floodgates have opened a little bit. We're scoring a lot of goals now, but I think the biggest part for us is our goaltending is giving us a chance to win every night. That instills confidence in everyone on the ice and on the bench. We've been opportunistic, I think, but at the same time we're creating a lot of chances and we're capitalizing on them." -- Blackhawks defenseman Calvin de Haan
"We came out playing the right way. It's just frustrating. We've been losing a lot lately, and at home. We believe in each other and we believe in our team. Between us in the room, we have confidence in our team. We shouldn't be having ups and downs like we have all year. We have to find consistency in our game and find ways to get points, get wins." -- Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury

Need to know

Kane has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in a seven-game point streak … Dach is the third 18-year-old in Blackhawks history to score a game-winning goal (Eddie Olczyk and Grant Mulvey each did it twice). … Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews played in his 891st game, tying Steve Larmer for 10th place in their history. … The Golden Knights shuffled their lines; forward Max Pacioretty was moved to the top line with Karlsson and Reilly Smith, Cody Eakin was with Jonathan Marchessault and Mark Stone, and Paul Stastny was with Cody Glass and Tuch. … Eakin left at 2:15 of the third period with cramps and will be reevaluated Thursday.

What's next

Blackhawks: At the Nashville Predators on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-TN, NBCSCH+, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: At the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, FS-W, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)