Blackhawks avoid embarrassment by rallying to edge Red Wings

The Hawks trailed 2-0 at the first intermission against last-place Detroit, but goals by four youngsters helped them pull out a 4-2 victory.

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The Blackhawks were able to celebrate Adam Boqvist’s second career goal and Dylan Sikura’s first on Sunday.

AP

When asked if the message as the game dragged on was to shoot the puck more often, coach Jeremy Colliton smirked.

“We’re always preaching that,” he said. “I would say, by and large, I’d like to push us to being more shooters out there.”

But Colliton’s challenging quest to change these Blackhawks’ pass-first mentality received some tangible backup.

After a sloppy start Sunday against the last-place Red Wings, with lots of possession but nothing to show for it, the Hawks finally turned their sticks toward shaky goaltender Jimmy Howard and rallied from a two-goal deficit to win 4-2.

“We just kept playing,” said goalie Corey Crawford, who won for the first time since Dec. 6. “If we do that, eventually we’ll get our chances, and we’ll score goals. You just can’t let up, that’s the only thing.’’ 

Dylan Strome and Dylan Sikura scored 45 seconds apart late in the second period, Adam Boqvist gave the Hawks the lead with 11 minutes to play and Dominik Kubalik sealed the victory with an empty-netter.

As ugly as the overall performance was — the teams combined for only 48 shots on goal, the second-fewest in a Hawks game this season — each of those four moments provides optimism for the future.

The average age of the four scorers: 22.3. For Boqvist, it was only his second career NHL goal. For Sikura, it was his first, and it came after 44 games of frustration.

“That’s something I pictured, that exact scenario, maybe a thousand times before bed,” a grinning Sikura said. “I waited a long time for that.”

The Hawks have won six of their last eight overall and three of four at the United Center, with the majority of this homestand against subpar opponents still to be played. 

“We kind of threw that seven-game homestand away at the beginning of the season and didn’t really take advantage of it,” Strome said. “This is our second-longest [yet] this year at four games, and [we’ve] got to get three, hopefully four [wins].”

Holm terminates contract

Hawks minor-league defenseman Philip Holm, long considered a leading candidate for an NHL call-up, was put on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a mutual contract termination.

Holm’s agent, Peter Wallen, said he has signed an agreement with a European team, and the contract will be announced when he clears NHL waivers Monday.

Holm, 28, signed a one-year contract with the Hawks in August after playing for a Russian team in 2018-19, seeing it as his last NHL opportunity.

And he impressed in training camp, nearly earning an Opening Day roster spot. Even after being assigned to Rockford, he seemed likely to return to Chicago at some point, especially as his productivity on the blue line — 15 points in 30 games for the IceHogs — continued.

The Hawks never called Holm up, though.

“As the season progressed, and a lot of other defensemen from the IceHogs have been called up but not him, he thought it was about time to take care of the rest of his career,” Wallen said. “In the end, he signed with the European team, and [general manager Stan] Bowman was understanding of it.”

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