TAKEAWAYS: Blackhawks Earn Second Straight Win 

In back-to-back starts, Petr Mrazek earned his second straight win this season to help the Chicago Blackhawks defeat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1. 

Throughout the game, the veteran netminder stood strong in the net with 38 saves made off of 39 shots. Although the Blues scored one goal, he felt in the zone early on which helped make his game easier. 

“I just saw the puck really well, especially early,” Mrazek said. “I [saved] the breakaway in the first minute in the first period, and that gets you going. And like I said two days ago when you see the puck early, it makes the game a little easier.”

The victory also marked the second straight win for the Blackhawks and their first back-to-back win this season.

With another win added to the record, head coach Luke Richardson described the confidence boost it can add to the team after their recent struggles. With one game left at home before they embark on a two-game road trip, they look to build off the momentum they created. 

“I think we really needed a build some momentum at home,” Richardson said. “I think that's important for our team, but also just for the culture around here moving forward.” 

Another standout for Chicago came from the team’s blueliners where four out of the six recorded at least one point. Nikita Zaitsev led the defensemen with two assists while Louis Crevier produced his first NHL point.

After the defense assisting on the offensive side, Zaitsev noted that this should be a standard in every game to help produce more victories later on. 

“I think we should do it more actually, in every game,” Zaitsev said. “We [have] to shoot more, get the pucks through and produce lots of troubles for the other teams.”

Now that the team received two straight wins, they now try to shift their focus to see how they can make the United Center a tough place to play with a few games left until the NHL Christmas break. 

“I think it'd be huge going into the second half of the year and try to make this a hard place to play,” Alex Vlasic said. “That was something that we kind of tried to work on in training camp. If we can find a way to try to make teams battle for a win every night to come in here, then we'll do our job.”