The Blackhawks had a familiar face back in their lineup, Ottawa improved in the second and a Coyote is on the move.
Here are three things we learned in the NHL on Wednesday night.
[snippet id=3803149]
Seabrook responds with goal against Wild
Brent Seabrook responded to being benched on Tuesday with a goal a day later against the Minnesota Wild.
Seabrook, 32, sat out Chicago’s 8-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators, marking the first time this season that he was a healthy scratch.
It was a different story on Wednesday, however, as he capitalized on a loose puck to open the scoring for the Blackhawks against Minnesota. The Wild won the game 2-1.
The three-time Stanley Cup winner recorded just his second goal of the season and 12th point. Seabrook logged 15:20 in the contest — a good sign for the defenceman that has played the fifth-most games in franchise history.
[snippet id=3816507]
Senators improve in second period
Ottawa has had its fair share of struggles this season in the second period.
The Senators were coming off a defeat against Chicago where they allowed five goals in the second. They also entered their game against Toronto having been outscored 61-34 in the middle period this year.
But if Ottawa’s approach against the Toronto Maple Leafs was any indication, improved performances could be on the way.
The Sens got a goal early in the period from Mike Hoffman and played pretty well — although they later conceded and were outshot 16-12.
Ottawa scored late in the third to edge the Leafs 4-3.
Duclair, Coyotes both get wish
Anthony Duclair and the Arizona Coyotes both came out satisfied after a trade to the Blackhawks.
The Coyotes dealt Duclair to Chicago along with defenceman Adam Clendening in exchange for Richard Panik and minor league forward Laurent Dauphin.
“It’s gone back for a few years now where the team wasn’t particularly happy with the player and the player wasn’t particularly happy with the team and we worked through some things, tried a lot of different approaches in a lot of different ways,” Coyotes general manager John Chayka said on a conference call. “I hope he has success in Chicago and does good things.”
Duclair, who is involved with his third NHL franchise, has nine goals and six assists in 33 games this season.
[relatedlinks]