CHICAGO _ The night was supposed to be about a couple of kids trying to impress their former teams.
A different kid ended up impressing everyone.
Rookie Kirby Dach put in a pair of sweet backhanders for the first two-goal game of his career to lead the Blackhawks to a 4-1 win over the Sabres on Sunday at the United Center, their fourth straight victory to improve to 9-7-4. It was also their 10th consecutive home win over the Sabres, who lost for the eighth time in 10 games.
The 18-year-old Dach was the best player on the ice as he extended his point streak to four games with his fourth and fifth goals of the season, narrowly missed another on a breakaway and drew a penalty. He has nine points in 14 games this season.
Corey Crawford had a pretty good night as well but, then again, he always does against the Sabres. He stopped 33 of 34 shots to beat them for the 11th time in as many starts.
Dach's heroics overshadowed the return of former Hawk Henri Jokiharju to the United Center and Alex Nylander's first game against his old team. Jokiharju was dealt to the Sabres in July for Nylander, who had two goals in Saturday's 7-2 win over the Predators.
By the time Jokiharju's NHL career is over, his brief time with the Blackhawks may seem as insignificant as Dylan Strome's 48 games with the Coyotes or Patrick Sharp's early days with the Flyers.
Jokiharju has found a home on the Sabres' blue line, but for a while last season it was unthinkable that his days with the Hawks were numbered.
When last season began, Jokiharju made the roster only because Connor Murphy was out with a back injury. But then-Hawks coach Joel Quenneville took a liking to the 19-year-old and played him 21 minutes, 34 seconds a game over the season's first month. On Nov. 3 against the Flames, Jokiharju played a season-high 25:29 in part because Duncan Keith was ejected early in the game.
Two days later, Quenneville was fired and Jeremy Colliton hired.
Jokiharju quickly fell out of favor and appeared in only 23 games with Colliton behind the bench. His ice time was reduced by more than four minutes per game under Colliton and he ended up spending most of the second half of the season in Rockford.
"I think it's a little bit how the coach sees you as a player and as a person," Jokiharju said. "I think that was one of the issues in here."
He didn't know exactly what the issue was and wasn't interested in revisiting the topic.
"Right now I'm just focusing (on) Buffalo and happy to be with Buffalo," Jokiharju said.
Although the trade surprised Hawks fans and league observers who couldn't fathom them trading a young right-handed-shot defenseman they drafted and developed, it didn't come as a shock to Jokiharju. The way the previous season played out, he could see the writing on the wall when the Hawks traded for Olli Maatta and Calvin de Haan in mid-June.
"Honestly, I thought maybe it's going to be me," Jokiharju said.
Jokiharju has been a solid third-pairing defenseman for the Sabres this season but was on the ice for the Hawks' first goal when Dach blew past him and lifted a backhander that deflected off the stick of the Sabres' Jack Eichel to make it 1-0.
A few seconds after Dach missed on a breakaway, he took a nice pass from Zack Smith as he crossed the blue line and this time sent a backhanded shot over Sabres goalie Carter Hutton's right shoulder.
Buffalo native Patrick Kane had a power-play goal, his 11th of the season, that extended his point streak to nine games and goal streak to six. Jonathan Toews closed the scoring for the Hawks midway through the third period with his fourth of the season.
