3 takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks’ win that snapped an 8-game winless streak, including a new public enemy No. 1

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NEW YORK — If there was an operative word to describe the spectacle Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, it was this: Duck!

Chicago Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson took a stray puck to the head in the first period and left temporarily.

Richardson held a towel to his head before exiting midway through the period. Derek King, the Hawks interim coach last season, took over the bench.

Meanwhile, Jujhar Khaira and Jacob Trouba rekindled their feud and threw punches after Trouba took out Jason Dickinson with a check early in the second period.

Khaira and Trouba likely have had bad blood since Trouba’s hard check to Khaira nearly a year ago knocked him unconscious and resulted in him being hospitalized for a night.

Trouba was at it again with less than three minutes left in the second when he clotheslined Andreas Athanasiou.

Jonathan Toews went after Trouba, and Connor Murphy exchanged blows with Barclay Goodrow. Toews was issued a misconduct penalty for instigating, resulting in his ejection.

Overshadowed by all this is the fact the Hawks beat the Rangers 5-2 to snap an eight-game winless streak.

“I’m good, we got a win,” Richardson replied when asked how he was feeling. “I was joking with (Rangers assistant coach) Gord Murphy, I thought I was done with that. But you’ve got to keep your eyes peeled at all times, I guess.”

Another positive for the Hawks: They went 3-for-4 on the power play.

“The power play was excellent today,” Richardson said. “Whether we score or we don’t, they give us momentum. And today, they gave us both.”

The Hawks had the jump on the Rangers from the start.

Reese Johnson tipped in Jake McCabe’s shot 2 minutes, 38 seconds into the game. In the second, the Hawks cashed in on back-to-back penalties by Mika Zibanejad (slashing) and ex-Hawk Ryan Carpenter (hooking).

Patrick Kane scored on the 5-on-3 advantage, and he and Seth Jones assisted Max Domi on a 5-on-4 a minute later.

Trouba’s wake-up hit and Toews’ subsequent penalty energized the Rangers, and Zibanejad scored on the power play.

But the Hawks took advantage of their fourth power play, with Taylor Raddysh redirecting Kane’s long-range shot. It was Kane’s third point of the night and 1,200th of his career.

“It’s awesome,” Domi said. “He was my favorite player growing up and now he’s my linemate; obviously a very good friend of mine too. That’s a pretty remarkable achievement. “

Regarding milestones, Toews passed Bobby Hull for fifth place in franchise history with 1,037 games.

The Rangers added a goal from Chris Kreider with 2:45 left after pulling goalie Jaroslav Halák during a 4-on-4.

Domi capped the scoring with an empty-netter with 1:14 left.

Petr Mrázek had 21 saves. He left the game after two periods and was replaced in the third by Arvid Söderblom, who stopped five of six shots.

“He’s going to probably be out short term, we hope, but it’s a groin injury,” Richardson said of Mrázek. “It’s not that same one, so that’s maybe a good thing.”

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Richardson gave new meaning to the term “puck head.”

In the first period, Jack Johnson’s pass along the wall was deflected off a Rangers defender’s stick and hit Richardson on the right side of his head. Richardson held a towel to his head to stop the bleeding, then left the bench midway through the first.

“I had the bloody towel going for a while,” Richardson said.

Assistant coach Derek King, last season’s interim head coach, ran the forward lines until Richardson returned shortly before intermission.

Richardson didn’t see it coming.

“I saw Jack right against the glass and he had the puck, so I thought I was totally safe,” he said. “I felt that donk and I’ve felt it before. Luckily, it hit me on an angle that it didn’t land flat and cause more damage.

“It was just a little cut and got a few stitches, and the doctor was ready for me. I was back on the bench pretty quick.”

After the game Richardson said: “I feel OK right now. No headache, nothing.”

It had been 10 games since the Hawks scored first (at the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 10).

They used a couple of second-period power plays to tack on two more goals against the Rangers in the span of a minute.

The last time the Hawks had a 3-0 lead was Oct. 25 during a 4-2 win against the Florida Panthers. The last time they did it on the road was March 26, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

“We’ve been in positions where we’ve had leads and given them up,” Patrick Kane said. “And we built on our lead tonight and we also stuck together as a team through a couple of tough plays. So that’s a great win and hopefully it propels us to get going.”

After chasing the lead in all but two games last month — both against the Kings — the Hawks needed an opening like this. And it also helped to end their eight-game winless streak (0-7-1).

“I’m really happy,” Richardson said. “I thought we’ve been battling hard.”

Trouba has a reputation around the league for borderline hits, but some Hawks especially took issue with his check to Andreas Athanasiou’s neck that knocked the Hawks center flat on his back.

Almost a year ago, Trouba hit Jujhar Khaira in similar fashion and Khaira was knocked unconscious, stretchered off and taken to a hospital.

Khaira went after Trouba on Saturday shortly after Trouba’s hit on Jason Dickinson.

Toews scuffled with Trouba after the Athanasiou hit and was ejected. The Hawks captain was given an instigation penalty, and the Rangers got on the board with Mika Zibanejad’s power play goal.

Domi supported Toews’ fight 100%: “That was the best part of the game, I thought.”

As for Trouba, he said he was trying to give his team a spark.

“I think we could use a little bit more emotion, a little bit more will in our game,” he said. “You’re not just out here going for a twirl. It’s a hard game and you’ve got to play it hard.”

Kane added: “It’s kind of what he does, right? He’s known for making big hits and can catch guys when he’s stepping up. So I’m sure he’s probably trying to get his team going, especially when they’re down, as captain on the team.

“But definitely you’ve got to be aware of him on the ice.”

Richardson took no issue with the hit.

“So-and-so is on the ice, keep your head up,” he said. “There’s not a lot of that anymore, so maybe after tonight there will be.”

Domi saw it differently.

“I got no comment on that guy,” he said. “But huge win, we’ll take it.”