Toews helps Blackhawks defeat Flyers

CHICAGO --Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist for the Chicago Blackhawks in a 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at United Center on Monday.

Alex DeBrincat also scored, and Kevin Lankinen made 33 saves for the Blackhawks (27-42-11), who had lost two straight and four of five.
"Yeah, the guys battled. They worked," Chicago coach Derek King said. "[Lankinen] played well, we did some good things. We got a little risky at times, but the fans like it. I don't like it all the time, but I think [Patrick Kane] should've had about another 10 assists tonight. He was feeling it, but it was just good to get a win, especially at home.
"Finish right at home, get the fans out of their seats, give them something that, when they walk out of here and get in their cars, they're talking about our team, about how they competed or how they won the game. That's all we can ask for."
Kevin Hayes scored, and Felix Sandstrom made 30 saves for the Flyers (25-44-11), who were coming off a 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
"We just didn't play well enough," Philadelphia coach Mike Yeo said. "That's what it comes down to. There's parts of our game where we were doing OK, but we weren't good enough with the puck tonight against a team that transitions really well."

Erik Gustafsson gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 1:44 of the first period. Toews cut back with the puck along the right-wing boards and passed to Gustafsson, who shot blocker side from above the circles.
Toews then pushed it to 2-0 at 6:15, taking a pass from Sam Lafferty after exiting the penalty box and shooting five-hole on Sandstrom on a breakaway.
Hayes brought the Flyers to within 2-1 at 8:03 when he converted a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Scott Laughton on a 2-on-1.
"It's tough when you go down two and have some good looks on the power play, and all of a sudden it ends up in the back of your net and down 2-0 in the first," Hayes said. "I thought we got a lot of looks. I thought both goalies played really well tonight. It just shows that we always need to respond no matter what the score is. I thought we did that."

Lankinen preserved the one-goal lead when he made a glove save on Hayes' partial breakaway attempt at 4:51 of the second period.
Since Marc-Andre Fleury was traded to the Minnesota Wild on March 21, Lankinen has taken over as Chicago's No. 1 goalie.
"It's been good," Lankinen said. "Now looking back a little bit, I think the first three-quarters of the season, being able to learn from one of the best goalies to ever play the position, and now the last quarter kind of carrying the load myself, I'm happy the way I've been performing on a nightly basis, just playing night after night. I think my game is where I want it to be now. Obviously, you can always work on things, but I'm pretty happy with the progress we've been making working with (goaltending coach) Jimmy Waite this year."
DeBrincat gave the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead at 7:45 of the third period, taking a cross-ice pass from Kane and scoring on a one-timer from the left circle. The goal was DeBrincat's 41st of the season, tying his NHL career high he set in 2018-19.

Despite the loss, Yeo said he liked what he saw from Sandstrom.
"He was great. He was outstanding," Yeo said. "First one goes in the net, and they score one shortly after that, but he did a [heck] of a job to settle into the game, and (he) really gave us a chance. He made some huge, huge saves throughout the course of the night, especially on the penalty kill. We spent too much time on the penalty kill (5-for-5 on penalty kill). When you're trying to mount a comeback, that makes things real tough."
NOTES:Kane's assist was his 66th this season, tying his career high he set in 2018-19. … DeBrincat has a career-high 77 points (41 goals, 36 assists) this season. … Flyers forward Travis Konecny had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (three goals, four assists).