Jonathan Toews had one goal and one assist to lift the Chicago Blackhawks past the host Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Thursday night, ending one of the oldest losing streaks in professional hockey.
The Blackhawks’ last regular-season win in Philadelphia came all the way back on Nov, 9, 1996, with the Blackhawks losing 14 straight regular-season games in the city over 22 years.
Reese Johnson, Tyler Johnson and Philipp Kurashev each added a goal for the Blackhawks, who have won five of six.
Jake McCabe contributed two assists for the Blackhawks.
Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek made 37 saves.
Morgan Frost scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who had won eight of 10.
Flyers goaltender Carter Hart stopped 25 shots.
The Flyers went ahead 1-0 at 8:52 of the first period when Frost scored his 10th goal of the season with a shot just under the crossbar.
Just nine seconds later, the Blackhawks appeared to equalize when Andreas Athanasiou got behind the Flyers’ defense. But the goal was disallowed after a challenge because Chicago was offsides.
Philadelphia’s Scott Laughton crashed heavily into the boards late in the first period. He went to the locker room briefly before returning in the final minute.
The Blackhawks were aggressive through the first period, led 9-7 in shots on goal but trailed by one.
The game opened up offensively in the second period with both teams getting solid scoring chances in the first five minutes.
Chicago eventually tied the game at 1 when Toews redirected a shot from the point at 9:51.
The Blackhawks took a 2-1 advantage at 15:51 when Reese Johnson connected.
Kevin Hayes had a scoring opportunity from a tough angle with about six seconds remaining, but Mrazek cleared the puck.
Tyler Johnson’s goal 35 seconds into the third propelled the Blackhawks to a 3-1 lead.
Midway through the third period, Frost kept attacking and fired a pair of shots wide.
Hart was pulled for an extra skater with 3:15 remaining and Travis Konecny immediately had two great scoring chances. Tony DeAngelo fired a shot through traffic at 18:17, but Mrazek was in position for the save.
Kurashev scored a late empty net goal to seal the victory.
— Field Level Media
