Lankinen, Blackhawks defeat Red Wings for first win of season

CHICAGO -- Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves for his first NHL win, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 at United Center on Friday for their first victory of the season.

Patrick Kane scored and had an assist, and Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome each had two assists for the Blackhawks (1-3-1), who were 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
"What can I say? Friday night in Chicago, home opener at the United Center, get your first NHL win," Lankinen said. "Only the fans were missing; that [stinks]. But other than that, [it] feels awesome."
Thomas Greiss made 24 saves for the Red Wings (2-3-0), which played 11 forwards and seven defensemen after forward Filip Zadina was placed in the NHL COVID-19 protocol.
"We had some chances early," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "I thought in the first 10 [minutes of the game], we had opportunities to score, we didn't score. I thought we ground ourselves down by turning pucks over in the neutral zone, trying to complicate things and force plays that weren't there."

Dylan Larkin skated through the right face-off circle and scored at 12:22 of the third period to end Lankinen's shutout to make it 3-1.
Lankinen made 25 saves in his NHL debut Tuesday, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers. The 25-year-old from Finland signed with the Blackhawks as an undrafted free agent in 2018 and played the previous two seasons for Rockford in the American Hockey League.
"I would lie if I would say [a shutout] didn't cross my mind," Lankinen said. "It always does, but I think most importantly I didn't think about the score. I just wanted to win. I want to win so bad."
Kane scored a power-play goal off a rebound for a 1-0 lead at 13:22 of the first period.
"Didn't like our first period at all," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "I thought it was nowhere near good enough to what we need, especially considering the situation we came into the game facing. But I thought the response the last two periods we showed a much better intention to do the right thing and that's what we need."
Calvin de Haan extended the lead to 2-0 at 7:53 of the second period with a shot from the top of the left face-off circle.
Kane passed across the slot to Andrew Shaw, who made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 6:17 of the third period.

Mattias Janmark scored a shorthanded goal into an empty net for his first goal with the Blackhawks at 17:06 for the 4-1 final. He signed a one-year, $2.25 million contract with Chicago on Oct. 12.
The teams play here again Sunday in the second of eight games in the Discover Central Division this season. The Original Six rivals are in the same division for the first time since the Red Wings moved to the Eastern Conference before the 2013-14 season.
"They got two points on us and we get a chance to even it up with them [Sunday]," Larkin said. "Every game is a division game, we're all fighting for the same playoff spots. It's a huge game on Sunday here and we've had great responses, we've come out in that second game and played some of our best hockey."