Lankinen started for the 10th time in 12 games and stopped 25 of 27 shots in a 4-2 victory.
The Blackhawks have so far yet to anoint Kevin Lankinen their new long-term No. 1 goaltender, but they’re certainly treating him that way right now.
Lankinen started again Tuesday and made 25 saves on 27 shots in the Blackhawks’ 4-2 win over the Stars.
The Finnish rookie has now started 10 of the Hawks’ last 12 games, relegating Malcolm Subban to a clear backup role rather than a “1B” role.
“In his development, it’s a good step for him to carry a load here as the games get big,” coach Jeremy Colliton said Tuesday about Lankinen. “[He’s] getting used to what that feels like and what he needs to do to prepare himself to play at a high level consistently.”
Helping the Hawks’ ability to ride Lankinen without exhausting him is their schedule, which has stayed almost entirely on course this season.
Other teams that had more postponements in January and February don’t have that luxury. The Stars, who missed numerous games earlier this year due to a COVID-19 outbreak and the Texas weather crisis, are playing 43 games in 76 days (one game every 1.77 days) since Feb. 24. The Hawks, meanwhile, are playing 37 games in 80 days (one game every 2.16 days) since Feb. 20.
“We try to manage his rest [on] back-to-backs and things like that,” Colliton said. “The schedule for us is not bad as far as the amount of games compared to some other teams. So we take it day by day. Nothing is decided [in advance].”
Lankinen’s tireless work ethic has helped him overcome a downturn in the first half of March and rediscover his top level in recent weeks. He’s 4-3-0 with a .932 save percentage in his last seven starts and up to 14-10-4 with a .918 save percentage on the season.
Constant work with Hawks goalie coach Jimmy Waite has contributed to his improvement. Lankinen said recently he has worked in-season on finding pucks through traffic and, once he finds them, coming out further to make himself bigger and cut down on the angle.
Those emphases were evident Tuesday as Lankinen produced several big saves on scrambled, hard-to-follow plays in the first two periods, then stood strong in the closing minutes to stave off the Stars’ comeback.
He finally got goal support, too.
The Hawks’ new first line of Kirby Dach centering Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat dominated. Kane set up Dach for his first goal of the season — minutes after a Dach-to-Kane goal was overturned for offsides — in the first period, DeBrincat ripped a shot off the net’s back bar in the second and Kane added an empty-net goal late in the third period.
Vinnie Hinostroza also recorded a point in his first game as a Hawk since 2018, feeding Dominik Kubalik on a two-on-one rush.
The end result was a much-needed win for the Hawks to begin a six-game stretch versus the three Central Division opponents they’ve actually fared well against this season: the Stars, Blue Jackets and Red Wings.
The entirely intra-division aspect of this year’s NHL schedule now has a chance to help the Hawks in the coming weeks as much as it hurt them recently.
“[This year] you seem to control your destiny a little bit more,” Ryan Carpenter said. “Teams that are ahead of us that we’re trying to catch, we’re going to play them again. And teams that are behind us are going to play against us... All these games matter that much.”
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