Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s first matchup against the Penguins this season went horribly.
But Fleury didn’t let his second chance for revenge slip.
He stoned the Penguins, saving 42 of 44 shots during regulation and overtime as well as two shootout attempts as the Blackhawks escaped with a wild 3-2 victory Tuesday.
“I was happy to get a crack at them again,” Fleury said. “It was frustrating and embarrassing last time, to go back there and do so poorly. Tonight went better.”
The Penguins didn’t make Derek King’s second victory in two games as Hawks interim coach comfortable, though. They dominated the third period, erasing a two-goal lead — Jujhar Khaira and Seth Jones scored their first goals as Hawks — and nearly winning it at the horn.
Fleury and Tristan Jarry proved heroic in a wild back-and-forth overtime before Jonathan Toews and Alex DeBrincat lifted the Hawks in the shootout.
“[Fleury] was great all night,” said Jones, who logged more than 31 minutes as the Hawks essentially rotated only five defensemen. “He made big saves. We gave up some rush chances. There’s a lot of things in the slot we could clean up that he bailed us out on. We talked about it before: We wanted to hunker down for him and get the win for him.”
The Hawks fielded a forward lineup without MacKenzie Entwistle, Brandon Hagel and Henrik Borgstrom.
Entwistle’s situation is the most concerning. He’s expected to miss four to six weeks on long-term injured reserve with an ankle injury. The timeline on Hagel’s shoulder injury will be clearer Wednesday, King said, and Borgstrom shouldn’t miss too much time with a non-COVID-related illness.
The one piece of good news on the injury front involves defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk, who was activated off injured reserve Tuesday and might make his season debut Friday.
