CHICAGO (AP) — Jeff Blashill's first three games with the Chicago Blackhawks were one-goal losses decided in the third period or overtime.
His fourth one was a long-awaited victory.
Blashill directed Chicago to a 3-1 win over Utah on Monday night for his first victory since he was hired by the Blackhawks in May.
“It was really disappointing over the first three games that we had moments of good hockey and put ourselves in position to win and didn’t,” Blashill said. “So to get the win is nice. For me personally, it’s, you know, it’s a good feeling. You want to get that first one out of the way, and hopefully there’s many more to come.”
Blashill, 51, is beginning his second stint as a head coach in the NHL after he went 204-261-72 in seven seasons with Detroit. He was an assistant with Tampa Bay for the previous three years.
The Michigan native is hoping to lead the Blackhawks out of a painful rebuilding project that had the team in last place in the Central Division in each of the previous three years.
This season just started, but there have been some encouraging signs.
“I like him as a coach and a person,” goaltender Spencer Knight said. “I really appreciate his eye for details, for building a style that is sustainable over time to win not just one hockey game in October, but to build a system that can win continuously over the course of a season and then hopefully into the postseason. That's what really matters.”
The Blackhawks were tied at 2 after two periods in each of their first three games. They lost 4-3 in overtime at Boston on Thursday night. They dropped their home opener on Saturday on Kaiden Guhle's goal with 15.7 seconds left, lifting Montreal to a 3-2 win.
Blashill's team had a 1-0 lead over Utah before JJ Peterka scored for the Mammoth 1:02 into the third period. But Andre Burakovsky scored a power-play goal for Chicago at 8:55, and Ilya Mikheyev helped close it out with an empty-netter in the final seconds for his second goal of the night.
“We’ve been in this situation four times now where you know they’re one-goal games late,” Blashill said. “That’s a good thing. But you have to find ways to win. You can’t just be close in those games. You have to continue to find ways to win, which we did tonight.”
Like Knight, the 30-year-old Burakovsky also praised Blashill's attention to details, and he said it played a role in the victory over the Mammoth.
“I think today, even though we maybe didn't have so much puck the whole time, I think our details on the defensive side were really good,” he said. “And that's something we've been working on. So good job by him to help us get through there.”
