Kevin Lankinen of Helsinki, Finland is continuing his remarkable rookie season with the Chicago Blackhawks. On Thursday, Lankinen notched his second career shutout as the Blackhawks defeated the Florida Panthers 3-0 at the United Center in Chicago.
Lankinen made 41 saves in the contest. He made 13 saves in the first period, 17 saves in the second period, and 11 saves in the third period. Owen Tippett of Peterborough, Ontario led the Panthers with a remarkable nine shots on goal, but none of the shots got by Lankinen.
Offensively for Chicago, the Blackhawks were led in scoring by Patrick Kane of Buffalo, NY, and Brandon Hagel of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who each had two points (one goal and one assist). For the rookie Hagel, it was the first multi-point game of his NHL career. He now has four goals and nine assists for 13 points on the season. The other Blackhawks’ goal scorer was Pius Suter of Zurich, Switzerland.
The story of Thursday was clearly Lankinen, who was simply dazzling. With the shutout, Lankinen improves to a record of 12 wins, seven regulation losses, and four losses in extra time with a goals-against average of 2.71, a save percentage of .920, and two shutouts. Lankinen’s other shutout this season came in a 2-0 Blackhawks win over the Detroit Red Wings on February 17.
In the Blackhawks’ win over the Panthers on Thursday, Lankinen also got on the scoresheet another way. That is because he took his first NHL career penalty with a delay of game infraction with 2:24 left in the second period. Ironically, when Lankinen notched his first career NHL shutout over a month ago against the Red Wings, he also picked up his first career NHL assist.
Lankinen is in the definite conversation for the Calder Trophy this season. Other possible candidates are Kirill Kaprizov of the Minnesota Wild and Tim Steutzle of the Ottawa Senators.
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