Five takeaways from Ducks-Blackhawks: Goals galore

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Remember when the Blackhawks’ offense was too quiet? Yeah, those days are gone. Here are five takeaways from the Blackhawks’ 7-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

1. Cat with the hat. Alex DeBrincat was doing well even when he wasn’t scoring goals. But when he does, he’s stellar. DeBrincat recorded his first NHL hat trick on Monday night, Patrick Kane feeding him for the power-play goal early in the second period to complete the trick. DeBrincat has played mainly right wing this season – he played on the left his final two years in Erie. The switch hasn’t hurt him. DeBrincat has scored nine of his 10 goals in November.

2. Patrick Sharp’s drought ends. Sharp hadn’t recorded a goal (make that a point of any kind) since Oct. 14. His skid ended on Monday night as his third goal of the season gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead in the first period. Sharp took the feed from Ryan Hartman, another Blackhawks forward who needed, and had, a strong game.

3. Nick Schmaltz gets going again, too. Schmaltz has had assists here or there but he hadn’t scored a goal since Oct. 28 against the Colorado Avalanche. Patrick Kane’s deft pass to him on the doorstep gave Schmaltz his fourth goal of the season to go with two assists.

4. Avoiding letdowns. The Blackhawks had a couple in this one, just gaffes that let the Ducks have some breathing room. The Ducks had back-to-back power plays to start the third – Chris Wagner got his second goal of the night on the first power play before the Blackhawks killed off the second. Again, the Ducks never really threatened, but the Blackhawks want to stay away from some of those hiccups.

5. The offense is back. From late October to early November, the Blackhawks fought, scratched and scraped for every goal. They’ve regained their scoring touch, seemingly one line at a time. Since Nov. 11, when they came back for a 4-3 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Blackhawks have scored 30 goals in their last seven games. In seven games prior to that they had just 12 goals.

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