{"id":248156,"date":"2025-10-24T08:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/248156\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T08:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:43:09","slug":"blackhawks-victory-over-lightning-shows-growing-will-to-win-thats-something-weve-built","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/248156\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks’ victory over Lightning shows growing will to win: ‘That’s something we’ve built’"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Blackhawks<\/a> are still making plenty of mistakes. Goalie Spencer Knight\u2019s torrid streak is covering up some flaws. Luck has broken in their favor lately, too.<\/p>\n

But the Hawks also are finding ways to win, which is a skill to some extent. They did so again Thursday, stunning the Lightning 3-2 to extend their point streak to five games. There\u2019s a relentless pursuit of success that hasn\u2019t existed in some time with this franchise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that we\u2019ve built the last few years,\u201d Frank Nazar said. \u201cThere\u2019s been some hard times and some good times. But [we\u2019re] learning from losses and mistakes .\u2009.\u2009. [how] to be able to come out in games like this and understand what it takes to be mature and win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Donato scored his second goal of the game \u2014 and his fifth in the last four games \u2014 with 54 seconds left in regulation to lift the Hawks to a 4-2-2 record.<\/p>\n

Teuvo Teravainen made a great defensive play to strip Lightning star Nikita Kucherov, who was looking for his 1,000th career point after notching two assists, then flipped the puck ahead to Nazar on a break. Donato buried a juicy rebound off Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had been undefeated in 13 career regular-season starts against the Hawks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little nervous when it came to me just because it was such an open net and there was so much spin on the puck,\u201d Donato said. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018If I miss this, I\u2019m going to lose my mind.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re playing against Kucherov, [Brayden] Point and some of these guys that are going to create offense. It\u2019s a matter of weathering it, and the younger guys are starting to understand that. If you do the hard things right, usually good things happen. And I think that\u2019s what\u2019s happening right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of red-clad supporters at Benchmark International Arena made up probably the largest gathering of Hawks fans in any road city in years, and their roars for both Donato goals were deafening. There\u2019s buzz around this team right now.<\/p>\n

Those fans easily could\u2019ve gone home disappointed, of course. The Lightning are 1-4-2 largely because they\u2019ve been snakebitten, and that trend continued. Knight robbed<\/a> a bunch of scoring chances (finishing with 29 saves on 31 shots), and the goalposts robbed a few more.<\/p>\n

For that reason, from a tactical standpoint, Hawks coach Jeff Blashill will have plenty of constructive criticism to offer during the next video review. Wyatt Kaiser had an uncharacteristically inconsistent showing, Lukas Reichel\u2019s inept defense quickly cost him his latest first-line opportunity and Connor Murphy committed an awful turnover in the third period.<\/p>\n

But in terms of mental resilience and determination, the Hawks look strong. That\u2019s radiating from Connor Bedard, who desperately tried to play through a blood-gushing face wound at one point, as well as from Nazar and Knight.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a lot of games we\u2019ve been in, I like how hard we\u2019re playing,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cI thought we worked extremely hard, competed extremely hard. We make some mistakes .\u2009.\u2009. and when you make mistakes, [Knight] has been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks still haven\u2019t trailed by multiple goals, and they\u2019ve been tied or leading at every second intermission.<\/p>\n

Granted, their 29th rank in team scoring-chance ratio (during five-on-five play) suggests their record might not be totally deserved. But that\u2019s not the way they\u2019re thinking internally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got guys going out there blocking shots, working their tail off to kill those penalties and earn things like that,\u201d Nazar said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in this spot all year, so to keep maturing our game and close out games like that, it\u2019s super rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Dominic<\/p>\n

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James will make his NHL debut Thursday against the Hawks, who drafted him and whose offer he spurned last spring.<\/p>\n

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\"Chicago<\/p>\n

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Mikheyev leads all NHL forwards in short-handed ice time, and he has been effective during every minute of it.<\/p>\n

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\"Spencer<\/p>\n

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Knight\u2019s elite athleticism and lateral movement make him excellent at stopping rebounds and high-danger chances. He has used those skills for a .937 save percentage.<\/p>\n

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