CHICAGO (AP) - Ever since he made his NHL debut almost two years ago, Dylan Sikura has been asked about when he might score his first goal for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Those questions are over.
Sikura, Dylan Strome and Adam Boqvist scored, helping Chicago rally for a 4-2 victory over the lowly Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.
“Waited a long time for that,” a grinning Sikura said.
Dominik Kubalik tacked on a empty-netter as Chicago (19-18-6) won for the fourth time in five games. Corey Crawford made 19 saves in his first start since he was pulled in the second period of an ugly 7-1 loss to New Jersey on Dec. 23.
“Wasn’t the prettiest game, but I thought we did what we had to do,” coach Jeremy Colliton said.
Detroit dropped to 3-18-2 in its last 23 games. Filip Zadina and Luke Glendening scored for the NHL-worst Red Wings (10-30-3), and Jimmy Howard made 23 stops.
“It’s obviously hard to play right now,” Zadina said. “We’re not producing some points as a team. It’s kind of disappointing, but we’re trying to do our best.”
The game was tied at 2 when Boqvist skated past Detroit forward Darren Helm near the blue line and beat Howard on the glove side 8:47 into the third. It was the second goal for the rookie defenseman in his 18th NHL game.
Kubalik added his 12th with 20 seconds left as the Blackhawks kicked off an important four-game homestand with their seventh win in their last 10 games. Chicago is just 10-9-3 at the United Center this season.
“We have to be really good at home. We’ve talked about that,” Crawford said. “These are big points coming up. We’ve got to take care of home ice.”
Looking for its first road win since Dec. 14, Detroit jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
With Kubalik serving a slashing penalty in the first period, Zadina beat Crawford with a wrist shot from the right circle. It was the fourth goal of the season for the 20-year-old Zadina, who was selected by the Red Wings with the No. 6 pick in the 2018 draft.
Glendening then got his sixth with a well-placed redirect of Patrik Nemeth’s shot with 3:07 left in the first.
Chicago responded with two goals in a 45-second span in the second.
“We just shoot ourselves in the foot for no reason,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “We played stupid hockey I thought in the second.”
After Strome finished a give-and-go with Alex DeBrincat, Erik Gustafsson had a shot go off the right skate of Detroit defenseman Filip Hronek and right to Sikura, who drove the puck into the open net for the tying score at 15:52.
Sikura then skated around the back of the goal and was lifted into the air by Gustafsson as the crowd of 21,493 roared its approval. The 24-year-old Sikura had a big grin as he sat on the bench after breaking through in his 44th NHL game.
“I was telling the guys, I think that’s something I kind of pictured, that exact scenario maybe a thousand times before bed,” Sikura said, “so it was kind of just instincts when it came there. It was a nice play by Gus. Happy to get that one out of the way.”
NOTES: Blackhawks G Robin Lehner is day to day with a right knee injury after he got hurt during Thursday night’s 7-5 loss at Vancouver. Kevin Lankinen served as Crawford’s backup after he was recalled from the minors Saturday on an emergency basis. … Blackhawks F Zack Smith played after missing practice Saturday for a family matter. Smith and his wife, Brittany, recently welcomed their second child, a boy named Eddie Dean Smith. … The Red Wings host the Blackhawks on March 6.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Open a three-game homestand Tuesday night against Montreal.
Blackhawks: Host the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.
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Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap
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