Chicago Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato now has his career high in goals. He is having a wonderful year on a personal level.
CHICAGO - The Chicago Blackhawks took down the Nashville Predators 6-2 at United Center thanks to an offensive explosion.
This has been a hard season for them but you wouldn't think that based on this victory against one of their biggest rivals.
Chicago's biggest contributor to this offensive explosion is Ryan Donato. He had one of the best individual nights of his career as he scored two goals and had two assists.
Donato came into the game with 16 goals on the season which was a tie for the most he's ever had in his NHL career.
When he scored his 17th of the season at 15:24 of the second period, he set his new career-high mark. It didn't take long for him to expand on the career high as he scored his 18th at 13:18 of the third period. Every goal he scores the rest of the way will add to his high-water mark.
Donato also now has 36 points on the season which is expanding on his previous career high of 31 as well. For the Blackhawks, who have had mostly underwhelming returns on their players this year, Donato has been a revelation.
A lot of teams are interested in him with the trade deadline looming but it might be smart for the Blackhawks to consider keeping him around and extending him. A mid-round pick may not be worth what he brings to the team as they develop young talent.
After the game, the conversation touched on Donato quite a bit. He is thrilled with the way that he played in this game and how things have been going this season.
"Things have been great this year. A lot of good things." Donato said in the locker room scrum. He gave a lot of credit to Connor Bedard for the way that he's been able to play lately. "He's so easy to play with".
Frank Nazar, who has been excellent since coming up in his own right, had some high praise for Donato as well.
"He’s great. Just being able to talk to him about what he’s thinking, he’s super open, super nice about everything." Nazar said of his new teammate Donato. "He works his tail off and he’s always going. Being able to see that competitive side pay off and how that works at this level is really awesome."
Nazar has had some nice things to say about his veteran teammates all year long but what he said about Donato here speaks volumes. Leadership is important in hockey and Donato has provided it.
When asked about Donato, Seth Jones said that he is "hotter than burnt toast" which yielded a chuckle from everybody in the scrum.
"He's awesome. He's working hard." Jones continued on Donato. He believes that the reason that Donato has had success lately is because of his work ethic.
It's easy to see what Jones means when watching the games as Donato always finds himself in the high-danger areas. Between that and his skill, he is going to create chances for himself and others.
Interim head coach Anders Sorensen is always short but sweet with his answers:
"I liked it" was his response when asked about what he thought of Donato's game against the Predators. That is a compliment of the highest order from a guy like Anders who appreciates good habits and working hard. That's what Donato has been bringing lately.
Can he get to 20 goals? It feels certain at this point. Reaching 30 might be tough but he has an outside chance. The scoring needs to continue at an above-average pace the rest of the way to get there.
For the Blackhawks, they'd just like to see him stay consistent which will help the young kids develop as they learn from a solid veteran. He probably won't forget this night against the Predators any time soon.
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