5 takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks’ 4-3 OT win, including Lukas Reichel’s coming out party and why Patrick Kane sat out

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Before Sunday, the Chicago Blackhawks hadn’t strung together two wins in a row since late October.

But that’s just second billing in the 4-3 upset of the Calgary Flames in overtime: Lukas Reichel scored his first NHL goal — the game’s first score to boot — and had three points on the night.

“Yeah, it was a dream come true,” he said. “First NHL goal is a pretty special moment for me and I want to keep buzzing.”

Reichel had the United Center buzzing on his first career multi-point game.

He served up a back-door beauty to Philipp Kurashev in the second period for his second career assist (the other helper came April 16, 2022 at Nashville). And then he had the primary assist on Max Domi’s diving game-winner in overtime.

“Actually I almost — I did lose the puck, and then (Reichel) came off and was fresh and made a heck of a play once again,” Domi said. “I had it pretty low there and just figured I’d take it cross crease and you never know what happens.

“Got a little lucky but we’ll take it, big win.”

Another highlight: Colin Blackwell scored his first goal as a Hawk.

Patrick Kane sat out another game, with coach Luke Richardson opting to give Kane’s lower-body injury at least one more night of rest. But the Hawks looked just as sharp on offense without him.

The Flames came back in the second, but the Hawks held on to force overtime and secure their second straight win since Oct. 23 and 25 (Seattle Kraken and Florida Panthers, respectively).

“It’s really great to see guys have some success like that, back to back, especially at home,” Richardson said. “I think we’ve been really kind of pumping our way back up. But you know what, it’s the NHL and it’s a result league, and Jake McCabe said it well — he’s sick of losing.”

In both wins, the Hawks’ opponent ramped up the pressure in the third period.

“But they didn’t fold tent and quit, they just persevered even harder and they got the results, so I’m happy for them,” Richardson said.

Here are five takeaways from the OT win.

Richardson took a wait-and-see approach to see if Reichel would be overconfident after a nice showing against the Arizona Coyotes, which by consensus was his best game as a pro so far.

“That’s any young player,” Richardson said.”You just have to make sure you don’t take the foot off the gas.”

Reichel’s motor ran just fine Sunday, scoring on a rebound off Seth Jones’ shot 2 1/2 minutes into the game, his first goal in the NHL.

“It was a little bit lucky but it doesn’t matter how, it’s just I’m happy that it went in,” said Reichel, who played on the top line with Max Domi and Philipp Kurashev.

Domi said of Reichel, “He’s outstanding. He’s only getting better every single day.”

In the second period, Reichel worked a 2-on-1 with Kurashev, waited for goalie Jacob Markström to commit, then dished to Kurashev for a wide-open back-door goal. The score chased Markström from the game.

Reichel said, “At first I thought I’m going to shoot that, and then I was like, yeah, there’s a little lane for that pass and Kurshy was on his one-timer side, so it was better for a 2-on-1. I’m lucky the pass went through.”

It was a savvy play in Richardson’s estimation.

“Him dropping his shoulder just a tad, I think it sold the goalie and I think maybe that’s why they pulled him, they probably didn’t like the goalie’s decision,” he said.

“I think he made (defenseman Rasmus) Andersson open up and try and come at him at a low point, thinking he was going to shoot it” to Kurashev, Richardson said. “(Reichel’s) got that skill set where he has the patience to hold on till the end and make that D make a decision, or not (make) a decision, and then it’s a shot.

“So he played it really well. And I was glad Kurashev finished off it because I think he almost surprised him on that.”

Reichel had at least two other goals in his sights, a sharp-angle snapper off a cross-crease feed by Kurashev, but goalie Dan Vladar knocked it down.

And there was another play where Reichel crashed the net like he was shot out of a cannon.

“You saw his speed,” Richardson said, “but then he stayed hard and he’s strong on his skates. He’s not the biggest guy, but that’s a big defense over there and he wasn’t afraid to go in there.”

So if Reichel’s confidence was high before, could the United Center contain it after a 3-point night?

“We want to see the same thing in the third game that we did in the second,” Richardson said. “That’s what we asked him after the first (game), and you know what, he gave it to us.”

As for Reichel, he already learned that lesson a long time ago.

“In junior, I had a couple games where I scored hat tricks and stuff and I was overconfident, and it doesn’t work like that,” he said. “Every game you’ve got to work and start from 0-0 and go every game.

“I don’t want to lay back and relax, I want to keep going.”

The native of Nürmberg, Germany, probably has a better chance of finding decent Bavarian food in Chicago than Rockford. Asked if he has been trying to make it hard on Hawks brass to send him down, he grinned.

“I don’t want to get in trouble, but, yeah, I felt good and I’m always happy to play here and I hope I stay here.”

Reichel has had two great games, but that can turn quickly for a rookie.

Richardson said Reichel earned the call up from the IceHogs, but the idea wasn’t just to give him another taste of the NHL.

“It’s not just a flash, coming up for a game or two. It’s just to give him an extended time to see if he can sustain what he’s doing right now,” Richardson said. “I’m sure he’s driven to do that.”

They were riding high off Kurashev’s goal, but Jonathan Huberdeau’s response 27 seconds for the Flames later seemed to knock some starch out of the Hawks.

Jonathan Toews won a defensive zone shift before Milan Lucic swooped in front of Connor Murphy in the circle to shovel the puck to Huberdeau. Later, on a Flames power play, Tyler Toffoli snapped a shot from above the left circle, and after a few rebounds, Nazem Kadri swatted it in.

“There was a lot of point shots,” Luke Richardson said. “I thought in the second period we didn’t do a good job of getting in front of those point shots. We were in front of the body, but not in front of the stick lane.”

“We adjusted better to that in the third,” especially on the penalty kill, Richardson said.

The Flames outshot the Hawks 16-4 in the period, but had just an 11-10 edge in the third.

“I thought we were desperate,” Richardson said. “We knew we really wanted to give us a chance to win and whether it was in the third or overtime, we did that.”

As a fourth-liner, Blackwell’s primary objective is stopping the opposition and setting up the other lines with the puck, preferably in the offensive zone. But he got another feather in his cap Sunday: his first goal as a Hawk.

It’s a hard role to get noticed for Blackwell, who signed a two-year, $2.4 million contract in July. But his coach has been.

“The last few games he seems to be in more control,” Richardson said. “He tries so hard and he wants to do so well.

“I think he’s feeling more comfortable with it. He’s talking on the ice. He’s very engaging on the bench and competitive. He’s doing a great job on the penalty kill and along the walls, left side, right side, which is nice for me to have that option.

“I’m glad he got rewarded tonight because he is a hard worker.”

The Hawks don’t want to risk aggravating Kane’s lower-body injury, and frankly his absence opened up space for Reichel to create on offense.

“(Kane) has a scheduled treatment he’s doing this week,” Richardson said before the game. “I think it’ll give him the proper rest and he’ll feel more comfortable.

“He can move out there but if he gets that one little bang, we don’t want to go through a game and we lose him.”