Back from injury, Blackhawks’ Kevin Lankinen needs stellar stretch to end rocky season

Finally back from an unlucky hand injury, Blackhawks backup goalie Kevin Lankinen has declared himself the “happiest guy on the team right now.”

He actually might be able to drop those last two words. If starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury doesn’t hold the prize himself, Lankinen may well be the happiest Hawk at all times.

“You’d have to ask everybody else,” he said Tuesday with a grin. “But I try to be.”

The fact Lankinen’s attitude remains so positive demonstrates all anyone needs to know about the resilience and authenticity of his personality, because Lankinen has endured a season that would’ve eroded the confidence of many of his teammates.

Just as many things have gone wrong for Lankinen in 2021-22 as went right in 2020-21. The 26-year-old Finn has been limited to only 11 starts and 13 appearances by Fleury’s presence, a long bout with COVID-19 in December and January and the boxer’s fracture he suffered in his right (blocker-side) hand Jan. 22 against the Wild. He has only played 92 minutes of hockey over the last two-plus months, and he has only won two games all season.

“Every season has its own challenges, and this season has been different,” Lankinen said. “There are so many things you can’t control, whether it’s a virus or an injury or whatever. You can’t dwell on that too much. It sucks and you’ve got to go through the motions, but you’ve got to see the other side of it.

“For me, it has been a year of a lot of growth. There is still a lot of hockey left, and I’m pumped to be back and show my best — because I know that, for sure, I’m a better goalie now than I was a year ago.”

His hand injury took Derek King by surprise — the Hawks interim coach didn’t learn about it until well after the game — but it sounds like Lankinen felt the pain in-game but simply held off on telling anyone.

“You always get a couple bumps and bruises throughout the game, and you always want to finish the game if there’s any chance you can do that,” he explained. “We had a good chance to win, and I wanted to finish the game and see afterward how it was.”

His recovery took even longer than the initial two-to-three week estimate, but he was able to keep skating and conditioning throughout that time and feels “great” now as a result.

He resumed facing shots in team practice Tuesday, was activated off injured reserve Wednesday and then will start one of the Hawks’ two games this weekend against the Devils and Blues.

Lankinen desperately needs a quality start to jumpstart a strong closing run this spring. His play so far this year, albeit in limited action as described, has been surprisingly poor: his .889 save percentage ranks 66th among 68 goalies league-wide (ahead of only Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer and Columbus’ Joonas Korpisalo) and his minus-7.4 goals-saved-above-average metric ranks 63rd.

As a pending unrestricted free agent playing for a franchise entering a period of upheaval, his future in Chicago — even in the NHL — will be tenuous if he doesn’t improve those statistics by April. But as is typical for him, he hasn’t let that uncertainty and urgency affect his approach.

“I try to prove myself every day,” Lankinen said. “It hasn’t changed my mindset really. Every time I get a chance to play I’m going to put my best foot forward. Eventually, all the other stuff is going to fall into place.”

King sees the same thing.

“He never bats an eye, never has a bad attitude, always brings positive energy…and that’s what I’m seeing now, especially going through these little speed bumps of his career,” King said. “Hopefully he can stay here, and we can keep him here, because he’s going to be a really good NHL goalie.”

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