Schmaltz brothers savor first regular-season matchup in NHL

CHICAGO --Mike Schmaltz figured it had to happen at some point.

His sons, Chicago Blackhawks forward Nick Schmaltz and St. Louis defenseman Jordan Schmaltz, almost played against each other in an NHL regular-season game a few times. But over the past three seasons, because of an injury or a reassignment to one of them, it never happened.
It finally did Saturday. Jordan had an assist in 11:27 and Nick played 20:55 when
the Blackhawks defeated the Blues 4-3
in overtime at United Center.
"It was kind of a surreal experience," said Mike, who was there with his wife, Lisa, and about eight other family members. "A little nerve-wracking, but it was fun watching both of the boys on the ice, playing in the NHL."

Prior to Saturday, the Schmaltz brothers played each other four times. The first was in an NHL preseason game, a 4-0 Blackhawks victory against the Blues, on Oct. 1, 2016. They also played each other in three American Hockey League games that season, when Nick was in Rockford and Jordan in Chicago (Dec. 18, 2016, and Jan. 6 and Jan. 8, 2017).
They didn't face each other often Saturday. Jordan, 25, paired with Robert Bortuzzo, usually matched up against Chicago's third line of Chris Kunitz, Artem Anisimov and John Hayden. Nick, 22, usually faced St. Louis' second defensive pair of Colton Parayko and Jay Bouwmeester.
One of the few times the brothers were on the ice together, Jordan got the better end of it. With a delayed penalty upcoming on Nick, Jordan passed to Blues forward Brayden Schenn, who scored to cut Chicago's lead to 2-1 at 12:35 of the second period. It was Jordan's first point of the season.
"He looked great out there," Nick said of Jordan. "He had the one assist there to [Schenn], had patience and found him in the middle. He made some other good plays, simple. He looked confident for not playing many [NHL] games. It was fun to see him out there. Hopefully he keeps getting better every night."

Nick and Jordan had more one-on-one battles as kids when they played hockey with their sister, Kylie, on the roller rink in the basement of their home in Verona, Wisconsin.
"Someone would usually come up crying on a high stick or a puck to the face, something like that," Nick said. "My sister would play, but it was kind of just like a one-on-one and she would hang back out the back door waiting for a pass from [Jordan]. Looking back at it, it was awesome to have that and work on each other's game and push each other to get better."
Jordan said, "I'm the older brother and probably got to beat up on Nick a little bit and help him out, and maybe he's a little bit tougher because of that. But, no, it's good man. It's fun."
Each brother was a first-round selection. The Blues took Jordan with the No. 25 pick in the 2012 NHL Draft and the Blackhawks chose Nick at No. 20 in the 2014 NHL Draft. Nick, who has four points, all assists, in five games this season, has been Chicago's second-line center for two seasons. He and right wing Patrick Kane were put together last season and immediately had good chemistry.
Jordan, meanwhile, is looking for a full-time spot with the Blues, who have a lot of depth on defense. He made his NHL debut with St. Louis on March 5, 2017, a 3-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche. He has four points, all assists, in 24 games with the Blues.
Nick said Jordan has handled the ups and downs well.
"He's pretty good at working through things," Nick said of Jordan. "He's put in a lot of time in the minors and worked his way up. He's been scratched a bunch, so I think he's got a good attitude and keeps working. Hopefully he plays well and finds a way to stick in the lineup."
Mike said he and Lisa are usually pretty calm watching their sons play. When the boys played youth hockey, Mike would bring a book, sit at one end of the rink and watch them play.
"My main thing is, I'm just happy if the boys play, they have fun, they play hard and nobody gets hurt," he said. "I don't care who wins or loses. I'm more concerned, you know these guys, you just don't want anyone to get hurt."
They had a slight scare in the first period when Nick went down after taking a puck to the mouth. He was a little swollen, but he didn't lose any teeth or miss a shift.
The Schmaltz brothers' time together didn't last long Saturday. While Nick headed to a postgame dinner with family, Jordan was on his way back to St. Louis, where the Blues play the Anaheim Ducks at Scottrade Center on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; FS-MW, PRIME, NHL.TV).
Mike and Lisa do their best to select weekends when one of them can be at Nick or Jordan's NHL games. On Saturday, they finally got to see watch both sons in the same place.
"We thought, for sure, it was going to happen sooner than it did," Mike said. "But it was worth the wait."