CHICAGO _ Dylan Sikura is not a savior, not only because he's not that level of prospect but because one player alone isn't going to save the Blackhawks' season.
Still, one of the few things that can break up a dismal year is the appearance of hope, and Sikura _ whom the Hawks called up from Rockford on Wednesday _ represents just that.
With hope come expectations, and with expectations can come pressure.
"You've got to be human (and) feel a little bit of pressure," Sikura said before Wednesday's game against the Penguins. "But that's good and that's part of the game and that's part of the reason you love to play the game. Obviously, it's a little magnified here playing in Chicago in an organization like this, but it comes with the territory."
Hawks fans aren't accustomed to having to search far and wide for the bright side, but Sikura gave them that Wednesday. So did the Hawks' 6-3 victory at the United Center that ended their second eight-game losing streak of the young season.
Andreas Martinsen, who entered with two assists in 19 games, scored his first goal of the season and made a beautiful pass on Marcus Kruger's game-winner with 16 minutes, 11 seconds left in the third period.
Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad added empty-net goals and Corey Crawford stopped 40 shots to end a personal eight-game losing streak.
Sikura had a difficult training camp but decided to embrace his demotion to Rockford. He was leading the team with 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) before getting called up.
"I'm in a lot better spot," he said. "The adjustment to the pro hockey level is pretty tough and I kind of found out the hard way. But I'm going to use the experience from when I was up here and obviously the time down in Rockford and hopefully have a better jump start here."
Martinsen's first-period goal ended a remarkable run in which the Hawks had allowed the first goal in 11 consecutive games.
It was just the eighth goal of Martinsen's career and likely the first he scored on a shot that caromed in off his own back. It came off a shot from Carl Dahlstrom, another Hawks prospect called up Wednesday, who was credited with the assist.
But the Hawks were more than happy to grab the lead, which has been hard to come by. Over their previous 11 games, they had led for only 41 seconds during regulation time. Brent Seabrook's slap shot added to the lead before the first period ended.
Seabrook played in his 1,037th game with the Hawks to move past Bobby Hull into second place, trailing only Stan Mikita's 1,396 games.
The lead evaporated, however, as the Penguins' Bryan Rust scored with 1:21 left in the first period, then added his second goal at the 14:14 mark of the second period.
A few minutes later, Alex DeBrincat sliced through the Penguins defense to score a power-play goal, but the Penguins tied it as Rust completed a hat trick on a shot that deflected in off Seabrook's stick.
