It didn’t take long to kickstart things at the United Center in Wednesday’s Chicago Blackhawks matchup vs. the St. Louis Blues. A goaltender saw the puck fly behind him just 27 seconds in.
If you blinked, you missed Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker’s shot get past goalie Spencer Knight (27 saves). The hefty amount of light blue sweaters in the crowd were feeling good as their team gained an early 1-0 lead.
Those fans left the arena in the sad mood that matched their jersey colors, though, after the Hawks shot the puck without hesitation.
Nick Lardis scored his second NHL goal at 9:26 in the first period on the power play to tie the game at one. And in the next 20 minutes, the Hawks shut the door for good.
Four goals in second period ended any hopes for a Blues road win over the Hawks, who have been a nightmare for Blues goaltending — Joel Hofer didn’t even want to replace Jordan Binnington.
The Hawks (18-18-7) cruised to a 7-3 win for their fourth straight victory. They are 5-1-1 since the Christmas break — and undefeated in 2026 — and on their longest win streak of the season.
“I would be lying if I said it’s not a ton of fun in here with the group we have,” center Oliver Moore said. “Coming into the rink, it’s my favorite part of the day.
“We want to win, but I think our process right now is what’s allowing us to be free out there. We’re all on the same page and we’ve got to look to keep it going.”
Seven Hawks scored goals against the Blues. Connor Murphy, Oliver Moore, Landon Slaggert, Jason Dickinson, André Burakovsky, Louis Crevier and Lardis all sounded the horn Wednesday.
They Hawks found their offensive touch without Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar in the lineup. That parity can go a long way.
“It’s big, especially with Connor (Bedard) out,” Murphy said. “To be able to win, you’ve got to get three or four goals, at least.
“For us to take off that way tonight was great. We hope that gives confidence to our group (to) keep our sound defensive game but (also) get some momentum going offensively.”
The Hawks have scored 17 total goals in three games vs. the Blues this season. They have their rival’s number, but are going for the heads of anyone that they face.
“I don’t like going team specific, we’re playing hard at the right moments and maybe the matchups against them are hitting those moments that we were bringing ourselves to another level,” Dickinson said. “It just happens to be against St. Louis. (but) it could have been any team tonight and (I) felt like we were playing the right way throughout the whole lineup.”
Hawks defensemen showed their shooting flair against the Blues. They had nine shots on goal, including Murphy’s unassisted goal in the second period (8:57) and Crevier’s snipe that Dickinson tipped in (17:24).
Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said pregame he wanted to push his defenseman to have a “first-shot mentality.” Safe to say they heard his request.
“The Murphy goal and Louis (being) a shoot-first guy, overall we’ve done a pretty good job,” Blashill said. “If you don’t have the lane you don’t have the lane, but if we have the lane, we want that to be the No. 1 option.”
The penalty bug bit the Hawks — they had six on Wednesday after only having three total in their previous trio of games — but their penalty kill continued to shine. They killed all five of their penalties, which lead them to be able to run up the scoreboard.
Do the Hawks always want to be on the PK? No, but having the third-best penalty kill in the NHL helps.
“You give up a goal early and then you have those kills and I thought that kill was great, it’s a huge part of the game,” Blashill said. “Those moments in games are big, so great job for our special teams.”
Prior to the puck drop, the Hawks held a moment of silence for former Hawks general manager/executive Bob Pulford and Hall of Famer Glenn Hall. The pair passed away on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.
Pulford ran the front office as GM or senior vice president from 1977-2007. He coached the Hawks four separate times in that stint. “Mr. Goalie” Hall started in a record 502 consecutive games from 1955-56 to 1962-63, all without wearing a mask. He earned all the wins in the Hawks’ 1961 Stanley Cup run and has his No. 1 in the rafters of the United Center.
The Hawks are 4-0-0 since the start of the new year. Might as well keep things going.
“Treat (these) like playoffs games, there’s no room for us to take our foot off the gas,” Dickinson said. “Top team, bottom team, middle-of-the-pack, it doesn’t matter, we have to show up.”