Kubalik, Lehner lift Blackhawks past Ducks

CHICAGO -- Dominik Kubalik scored two goals for the Chicago Blackhawks in a 4-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at United Center on Saturday.

Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist for Chicago (20-20-6), which had lost two in a row. Robin Lehner made 35 saves after missing the previous three games because of a right-knee injury.
"I didn't feel great at the start. I think as the game went on, I felt better and better," Lehner said. "Kind of felt a little weird at first. The first period I didn't feel quite right, the second period was a little weird since I] didn't have much to do until the last five minutes pretty much. … We knew they were going to have a push in the third and [I] felt better there."
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Max Jones and Rickard Rakell scored for Anaheim (17-23-5), which lost its third straight and is 1-5-1 in its past seven games. John Gibson made 29 saves.
"I thought we were OK and maybe as expected with the travel coming in (won 3-0 at home against the Dallas Stars on Thursday), but the second period was just plain disappointing," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "It is a true privilege to be able to compete in this League, and we didn't compete in the second period."
Jones gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead 3:37 into the first period with a one-timer in front after Ondrej Kase stole the puck from Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy behind the net.

Toews tied it 1-1 at 8:13 with a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Gibson five-hole. Toews has seven points (two goals, five assists) in the past five games.
"I think as the year has gone on, he's getting better and better, playing a hard game and taking the puck to the net and gaining confidence he's going to make a difference for us offensively," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said.
Kubalik scored on a rebound with his backhand to give Chicago a 2-1 lead at 4:20 of the second period before getting the rebound of his own redirection in front and scoring five-hole to make it 3-1 at 12:21.
Kubalik is tied with Buffalo Sabres forward Victor Olofsson for the most goals among NHL rookies with 16.

"The biggest part is that [Toews and I are] playing pretty well as a line," said Kubalik, who has five goals in four-game streak and eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past five games. "Lots of O-zone shifts, lots of shots to the net. I think that's the biggest thing."
Chicago outshot Anaheim 17-9 in the second period.
"The second period wasn't very good," Rakell said. "Kind of stopped pushing back a little bit and gave them too much room. [We] didn't play with confidence, so yeah, that wasn't a good period for us."
Rakell cut it to 3-2 at 2:29 of the third period when he jammed in a rebound between Lehner's pads, but Olli Maatta pushed the lead to 4-2 at 3:59 with a one-timer from the left point.
"Losing [stinks]," Ducks defenseman Josh Manson said. "I mean, you get fed up with losing, but there's only one way out of it. You can't just sit there and feel bad for yourself. There's only one way out of it, and that's the way it goes. It's part of being a professional."

They said it

"A lot of it for us, I think we usually get off to a slower start. I think you can attribute that to the time zones. There is a science to that, but that's no excuse. If you're going to play at this level, you better get over the travel and learn how to embrace the [stink] of it sometimes." -- Ducks coach Dallas Eakins on the team going 1-6-0 in their past seven road games
"Our game over a long stretch of time is improved. [It] doesn't mean we're a finished product, but if we keep getting better and the young players continue to develop, we can be in the race (for the playoffs). … We got five (games) before the break, we got to have a little push here." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton

Need to know

Anaheim went 0-for-1 on the power play and is 2-for-17 with the man advantage in its past seven games. … Blackhawks defenseman Erik Gustafsson played his 200 NHL game. … Chicago reassigned forward John Quenneville, who had one hit in 11:55 of ice time, to Rockford of the American Hockey League.

What's next

Ducks:At the St. Louis Blues on Monday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: At the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)