The Blackhawks’ excellent crowds at the United Center haven’t had much to cheer about this season, but the fans lucky enough to attend the last two games have been treated to a lot of entertainment.
For the first time since November 1992, the Hawks have scored seven goals in consecutive games, following up their 7-4 victory Sunday against the Coyotes by hammering the bottom-feeding Ducks 7-2 on Tuesday.
An announced crowd of 18,017 got to see some of everything, including a near-goalie fight between Petr Mrazek and John Gibson. They enjoyed the offense most of all, though. The Hawks have scored more goals in the last two games than they did in the monthlong span of Jan. 8 to Feb. 8.
“We want this feeling to continue, and we want it to be contagious,” coach Luke Richardson said. “Winning can do that.”
Connor Bedard fueled the explosion, tying the Hawks’ rookie record with five points in the game. He hasn’t merely looked like the best player on a bad team lately; he has looked like a world-class superstar.
In the second period alone, he set up Philipp Kurashev for a layup of a goal on a two-on-one rush, got a freebie assist on a power-play goal by Seth Jones and then — with one of his best plays yet — forced an offensive-zone turnover and blasted a one-timer into the top shelf.
He then chipped in two more assists in the third period as the Ducks’ ship fully capsized.
‘‘What I really liked . . . on the first five-on-five goal we had, he comes beneath me, I give it to him and now they’re on a two-on-one,’’ forward Nick Foligno said. ‘‘He’s not ahead of the play; he’s not trying to cheat. You can see he’s understanding now his positioning . . . and then his natural abilities take over because of that.’’
After racking up eight points during the matchups against the Coyotes and Ducks, Bedard is up to nearly a point-per-game average this season — with 51 points in 52 games — and he’s well above that since returning from his broken jaw.
“It’s funny, I had eight games straight without a goal, and then you have a couple of big ones and people kind of forget about that,” Bedard said humbly. “I don’t know, I’m just trying to stick to what works. I’ve been fortunate the last two to get a couple, but it’s only two games.”
When Bedard takes over, it’s usually a good sign for his linemates, and that was again the case Tuesday. Kurashev had two goals and two assists — reaching and blowing past the 100-career-point milestone in a matter of minutes — and Foligno had four assists.
Athanasiou returns
Beyond Bedard, Kurashev and Foligno, forward Andreas Athanasiou was the fourth Hawks player to earn multiple points Tuesday — and his doing so was arguably the most newsworthy of all.
Playing his first game in more than four months because of a nagging groin injury, Athanasiou needed only a few shifts to rediscover his signature speed, agility and elusiveness.
With the seconds winding down in the first period, he built up speed through the neutral zone, weaved between two Ducks at the blue line and curled wide around a third before firing a shot just wide. He did the same thing in the neutral zone during the second period and drew a penalty. He also had two assists — one on Ryan Donato’s opening goal, and another after forcing a turnover that created MacKenzie Entwistle’s third-period marker.
"[Athanasiou’s] speed and his dynamic [ability] with the puck was great,” Richardson said. “He kept shooting, and he was not just skating forward; he was tracking back hard. Guys were really happy, cheering for him on the bench.”
This and that
Ex-Hawks forward Anthony Beauvillier hasn’t found his scoring touch yet in his first two games since the Hawks traded him to the Predators, with zero points on four shots on goal. The Predators split the two games and remain — somewhat surprisingly — well within the Western Conference playoff field.
Boris Katchouk has filled Vladimir Tarasenko’s vacated spot in the Senators’ forward lineup, but he certainly hasn’t filled the same role. He has logged less than 15 minutes of ice time combined in his first two games with them.
