Recapping the Chicago Blackhawks: Dickinson-Kane connection continues — plus radio man John Wiedeman’s absence

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The Chicago Blackhawks-Anaheim Ducks game Tuesday night at the United Center wasn’t exactly the stinker it was billed to be.

Though both are near the bottom of the standings, they put up some highlight-reel hockey. In the end the Ducks prevailed 3-2 in overtime on Frank Vatrano’s backhander off Isac Lundeström’s feed.

“I thought we outplayed them for three periods,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said. “That was probably the most O-zone time and rotation and movement that we’ve had all year. A couple of maybe line rushes (were) a little too fancy, that extra pass. But their goalie (Anthony Stolarz) made a few good saves, especially on Tyler Johnson on the one power play. …

“We just didn’t have that killer instinct to put that third one in in the first 60 minutes.”

It’s not just blowing smoke.

The Hawks had a 60% scoring-chance share in 5-on-5, according to naturalstattrick.com, and a 61% Corsi-for percentage.

Hawks center Jason Dickinson opened the scoring 1 minute, 36 seconds into the second period. his third straight game with a goal.

“Playing with Kaner creates a lot of offense,” Dickinson said. “So when you’re creating opportunities, you start to feel really good and you get more touches. And it’s a snowball effect. If you get more chances in the O-zone, you start to feel good and you want the puck more and you want to do more with it. So it’s been nice getting those opportunities.”

The teams traded goals the rest of the period.

Brett Leason put the Ducks on the board with a rebound shot at the 8:25 mark. Seth Jones scored off the rush at 13:09, served up by Dickinson, but Jayson Megna answered at 15:42.

The Hawks had several chances in the third — an 11-8 advantage in shots on goal and some shots they didn’t take — but both teams were held scoreless.

In overtime, Johnson and Max Domi missed the net before the Ducks’ Frank Vatrano sank the winner.

Before the game, the Hawks held a moment of silence for Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, who died Jan. 30 at 84.

• Dickinson and Patrick Kane continue to make magic together. It was the third straight game in which the new linemates played at least 12 minutes together in 5-on-5, and the pair has produced in each of them — three Dickinson goals teed up by Kane.

“I try to play my game, drive the middle for him and create space and I’ll try to read off him as best I can and give him more time than he has (had) maybe recently,” Dickinson said.

Linemate Johnson agreed.

“He does what Kaner wants as a center: You drive that middle, create that space for him, and when Kane has space, anything can happen,” Johnson said.

• Jones continued his NHL All-Star Game high, working a give-and-go with Dickinson and finishing it off for his fifth goal of the season, tying last season’s total.

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• Colin Blackwell does a lot of grunt work, and he turned in a quality penalty kill after Boris Katchouk committed a high-sticking double-minor. Blackwell and Reese Johnson led a short-handed rush and burned off several seconds trying to set up a chance in the offensive zone before Blackwell drew a hooking penalty against Mason McTavish. So half of that four-minute kill turned into a 4-on-4.

Richardson credited the entire unit.

“Our penalty kill has been great, especially our up-ice pressure,” he said. “We’ve really worked at it.

“We had some good examples this morning in our video session with little marks and arrows just for some extra instruction. I thought those guys were ready to kill that four-minute and they did that, plus they drew the penalty.”

• Petr Mrázek’s first goal-against was mostly on him. He deflected Megna’s shot and tried to brush the puck out with his stick but mostly whiffed. Leason swooped in and slapped it by him.
• The second goal Mrázek allowed, this one by Megna, was a real softy — though Jones did him no favors. Jones gained control of the puck behind the net, but Leason poked it from behind to Megna, who snapped it through Mrázek even though the Hawks goalie was well positioned by the post and waiting for the shot.

Said Richardson: “It happened so quick, and they shoot the puck through Seth’s legs, so Petr doesn’t pick it up quick. But I think it could (have been) avoided earlier. (MacKenzie) Entwistle or someone’s backchecking, he was coming in, there could’ve been a reverse there.

“We use each other laterally in our breakouts tonight very well. That one, I just think our voice would’ve been a good tool there, just to call for a reverse and hold the puck a little bit.”

• Dickinson had a great night with a goal and an assist, but he had a Grade-A look late in the third that he wishes he could have back.

“Yeah, that one sucked, rolled on me there,” he said. “I thought I had it under control and I could have taken even more time with it, but I thought I could get it off and it rolled on me and it ended up being a muffin right into (Stolarz’s) stomach.”

The Hawks won 60% of faceoffs despite missing Jonathan Toews. Sam Lafferty won 8 of 9, Domi 10 of 15 and Dickinson 8 of 18.

“We were really good in the draw (overall),” Dickinson said. “I thought I was a little bad to be honest. I was getting frustrated with myself not winning them clean enough. I thought I should have had a lot more.

“So I was watching a lot of clips on the bench between the timeouts just to try to get a read on what guys were doing, their timing and how much they’re jumping.”

“It’s exciting to play in front of this crowd. I’ll probably cherish these five games a little bit more before the deadline, just not knowing what’s going to happen. It’s always exciting playing at home, I’ve always loved playing at the United Center in front of the crowd here. Kind of wish I had more time here this month but it is what it is. Cherish all these games”

— Kane before the game

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• Toews missed his second game in the last three with an illness.

“Just keeping him away from the guys,” Richardson said. “We don’t want it to get around through the team and we’ve got two more days between the games. Just let him rest up and see where he is on Friday.”

• Tyler Johnson returned after a three-game absence and wasn’t concerned with aggravating his ankle injury a second time.

“Yeah, really frustrating,” Johnson said. “The last one was a little different but related, so that’s kind of annoying, but at the same time, there’s nothing that I’m worried about or in the future that I have to worry about. Every day I’m getting better, and that’s all that really matters.”

• Hawks radio play-by-play man John Wiedeman didn’t show show up on an injury report, but he missed four games with a cold that “took my voice almost completely away.”

“It just took a long time to get rid of the infection that had taken hold of my body,” Wiedeman told the Tribune. “And I tried to fight through it (but) some point you have to do what’s necessary in order to get rid of it. So that’s what I did.”

Pre- and postgame host Joe Brand filled during Wiedeman’s absence.

Wiedeman said it’s “very difficult missing any games and it reinforces the lesson: You don’t know what you’ve got until you’ve lost it. And so that’s kind of my feeling.

“Joe Brand did a great job standing in for me and handling everything. He’s a true pro. And though his forte’s baseball, I thought he handled himself really, really well with the sport of hockey. It’s a real challenge to do hockey play-by-play at any level, and I thought he was very, very good in my stead.”

The Hawks fell to 15-29-5 (35 points), just ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets (15-32-4, 34 points) at the bottom of the league.

THe Hawks play the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night at the United Center.