Blackhawks squander Ryan Donato’s hat trick in stinging loss to Golden Knights

Ryan Donato’s breakout season keeps getting more impressive, even though it hasn’t led to much team success.

Donato had his first career hat trick Friday against the Golden Knights, but the Blackhawks blew a third-period lead in a stinging 5-3 loss that dropped them to 21-43-9.

“It’s a privilege and an honor to get to that point, right?” Donato said. “I’ve had a lot of help from my teammates, coaches and a lot of people. But I want to help the team win.”

In the first period, Donato knocked his second shot on a breakaway (set up by Ethan Del Mastro) past goalie Adin Hill. In the second, he finished off a pretty passing play with Wyatt Kaiser and Joe Veleno during a delayed-penalty sequence, then buried a seam pass from Ilya Mikheyev.

The latter two goals — only 15 seconds apart — sent a United Center crowd of 19,121 into pandemonium, but the excitement didn’t last. Pavel Dorofeyev scored the game-winning goal on a power play with 3:10 left.

Goaltending was the difference. Hawks goalie Spencer Knight, who has struggled the last couple of weeks, probably should’ve saved two or three of the Knights’ four non-empty-net goals; he’s 1-3-0 in his career against his namesake team. Hill came up big on the opposite end, stopping Frank Nazar and Mikheyev on two breakaways each.

“There were a lot of positives,” interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “It just leaves a sour taste in your mouth when you come out of here with zero points. You can look at a lot of stuff we created offensively against a really good defensive team — that’s a positive. But also the young blue line held it in against a really good rush team.”

Not done yet

Donato, in his seventh full NHL season, long ago blew past his career highs and has a realistic chance to double them. He has 28 goals and 30 assists with nine games to go; his previous highs were 16 goals (in 2021-22 with the Kraken) and 18 assists (last season with the Hawks).

His summer price tag continues to increase but with good reason: He has become an integral part of this team. The Hawks haven’t had a 30-goal scorer since Alex DeBrincat in 2021-22. Donato is on pace to change that.

Detroit connection

Veleno got off to a slow start with the Hawks after being acquired at the trade deadline, but he has been more involved recently. He has used his speed to his advantage — especially on the penalty kill — and awakened offensively.

Veleno and Tyler Bertuzzi, in particular, have developed some chemistry — although they were split Friday after a couple of games together. That chemistry isn’t surprising because they overlapped on the Red Wings, logging 165 minutes on the ice together from 2021 to 2023.

“It’s always nice knowing someone when you get traded — someone you’ve played with and are familiar with,” Veleno said recently. “He’s always been good to me, and he’s helped me a lot since I’ve been here, talking to me and guiding me.”

Gopher watch

UMass’ 5-4 overtime win over Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA hockey tournament Thursday ended Sam Rinzel’s and Oliver Moore’s sophomore seasons.

It’s conceivable they could turn pro and sign with the Hawks at any time. Junior Jimmy Snuggerud became the first Gopher to turn pro Friday, signing with the Blues.

It would be particularly compelling to see Rinzel, one of the top defensemen in college hockey this season, get a quick taste of the NHL. It would also be interesting to see how Moore’s speed translates to this level, even though he wasn’t quite as productive as hoped in college.