Blackhawks, Malcolm Subban shut out Blue Jackets
Stan Bowman’s goaltending experiment with Subban and Kevin Lankinen continues to pay off. The Hawks’ team save percentage ranks sixth in the NHL.
When Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman launched the Blackhawks into their 2021 season without a proven goaltender, even he knew it was risky.
Outside of the organization, the decision was considered more like indefensible.
The NHL’s own website ranked the projected timeshare between Malcolm Subban and Collin Delia the worst goalie duo in the league. NBC Sports ranked the Hawks 29th in their preseason power rankings, writing that the “goaltending question could really make this season a challenge.”
But 21 games into the season, Bowman’s big risk has proved nothing short of brilliant.
Subban’s excellence continued Thursday as the Blackhawks finished a sweep of the Blue Jackets with a 2-0 win, earning the former journeyman his second career NHL shutout and first with the Hawks.
Yet Subban’s current streak — he’s 3-0-1 with a .952 save percentage in his last four starts — hasn’t even been the biggest storyline of the Hawks’ goaltending unit.
Kevin Lankinen’s out-of-the-blue emergence, to the tune of an 8-3-3 record and .921 save percentage, has him leading the Calder Trophy race and pushing to contend for the Vezina Trophy.
Together, the two netminders have transformed the Hawks’ goaltending situation from an internationally condemned debacle to the strongest part of a current playoff team.
“We’ve got to say we’re pleasantly surprised,” coach Jeremy Colliton said Thursday. “They’ve both been very good. They’ve given us a chance to win every night. That’s what you hope for when you give young guys opportunity: you hope they’re going to seize it and take advantage of it, and that’s what they’re doing.”
Two months ago, Subban was coming off two seasons in Vegas that were so bad — his save percentage was .896 over the two combined — that his starts became popular betting targets. Lankinen was a complete unknown, having played zero seconds of NHL hockey during his first six professional seasons.
Their simultaneous breakouts in the time since have become inspirational for the rest of the team.
“Watching both those guys get paid off for...the work they’ve put in this season, be it in practice or before practice, it’s been huge for the team,” Patrick Kane said.
Kane’s perfectly placed wrist shot with 11:15 left Thursday provided all the offense the Hawks needed, differentiating two teams that had both clearly emphasized tighter checking and more responsive defending after Tuesday’s 6-5 thriller.
Carl Soderberg’s empty-net goal, his fifth point in his last six games, sealed the Hawks’ fourth win of this now-concluded five-game road trip. They’re now 11-6-4 on the season, above real .500 for the first time since Oct. 27, 2018.
“Over three periods, we did a lot of little things that allowed us to stay in the game until we could score,” Colliton said. “We have a couple of elite players, and if we could stay in it, there was a chance we could come through.”
Subban dialed up his ever-present humility to maximum level in his postgame interview; he credited the team, rather than himself, at every opportunity.
But he was undeniably solid, stopping all 26 of the Jackets’ shots on goal — including 15 in the third period — and playing the puck very well.
“I just love to play the game and [I’m] happy for every opportunity that I get,” he said. “It’s been good for our team. Honestly, we’ve been buzzing.”
The Hawks’ team save percentage now stands at .916 this season. That’s sixth-best in the NHL — far, far from dead last.
Bowman’s big risk doesn’t look so risky anymore.