Nick Foligno scored twice and Ryan Donato’s 30th goal of the season sparked an early-third-period run of three goals in 1:33 as the visiting Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 on Thursday.
The first three goals for Chicago (23-46-10, 56 points) were all scored by former Bruins. Foligno made it 1-1 at 7:55 of the second period, and after Donato’s go-ahead goal at 3:14 of the third, Tyler Bertuzzi added insurance 1:09 later.
Kevin Korchinski scored at 4:47 of the third to make it 4-1, and Foligno added a last-minute empty-net goal. Arvid Soderblom made 31 saves for the Blackhawks, who won for just the third time in 16 games (3-11-2).
Donato is Chicago’s first 30-goal scorer since Alex DeBrincat in 2021-22.
David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie had a goal and an assist apiece for Boston (32-39-9, 73 points), which has lost 12 of its past 14 (2-11-1).
Boston’s Jeremy Swayman stopped 16 shots.
Donato, a Boston native, broke the tie early in the third period. After Chicago’s Sam Rinzel fired a shot from the left side, Philipp Kurashev pulled the rebound and found Donato open on the opposite post.
Bertuzzi followed with an unassisted tally, skating through center and slipping a perfect wrister over Swayman’s blocker.
Finishing off Chicago’s spurt just 24 seconds later to make it 4-1, Connor Bedard found Korchinski in the high slot, and the 20-year-old defenseman snapped a shot high past Swayman on the glove side for his first goal of the season.
Geekie brought the hosts closer at 11:08, burying Pastrnak’s no-look centering feed from between the circles, but Foligno iced the game with a short-handed empty-netter with 28 seconds left.
Pastrnak put the Bruins in front at 10:39 of the first period, creating a turnover with a hard forecheck and getting a piece of Elias Lindholm’s wrist shot as it sailed toward Soderblom. Geekie set up the initial shot with a centering pass from the right side into the middle.
The teams combined for just four second-period shots before Foligno knotted the score at 7:55, intercepting along Chicago’s defensive-zone left wall and shooting up the wing to fire a hard wrister past Swayman’s blocker.
Bruins rookie Fabian Lysell had a great chance for his first NHL goal just over three minutes later when linemate Pavel Zacha hit him with a cross-ice pass to the left circle, but Soderblom split to make the save against the post.
The Chicago netminder also stopped an incredible coast-to-coast effort from Pastrnak with 6:31 left in the second period as well as Fraser Minten’s breakaway in the final minute of the frame.
–Field Level Media
