Blackhawks rookie forward Pius Suter didn’t have a goal in his first five NHL games.
He made up for that lost time with a hat trick against the Red Wings in Chicago’s 6-2 rout.
The first goal of Suter’s NHL career came just 4:22 in the first period following a successful Blackhawks’ penalty kill. A point shot from Calvin de Haan was stopped by Detroit goalie Jonathan Bernier but the rebound went right to Suter, who buried it into the open net.
Pius Suter knocked in a rebound for his first career NHL goal.
🍎Calvin de Haan
🍏Patrick Kane#Blackhawks 1, #LGRW 0 pic.twitter.com/wT5XG3lN5G— Brandon Cain (@brandonmcain) January 24, 2021
Suter waited about five minutes before scoring his second career goal. After a few failed attempts by Detroit, Mattias Janmark fed a pass to Suter in the low slot and Suter one-timed it past Bernier to give the Blackhawks an early 2-0 lead over the Red Wings.
Here’s a closer look at Pius Suter’s second goal. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/aZBcEvZgN2
— Brandon Cain (@brandonmcain) January 24, 2021
[UPDATE] In the third period, with the Blackhawks lead at 4-2 after a Red Wings goal on the power play, Suter kept the Blackhawks firmly in front with this goal on an odd-man rush:
Pius Suter scored his third goal of the game to complete his first career NHL hat trick.#Blackhawks 5, #LGRW 2 pic.twitter.com/W51N4CRBV5
— Brandon Cain (@brandonmcain) January 24, 2021
Suter joined the Blackhawks organization as a free agent signing in July after posting MVP numbers in the Swiss National League. Suter scored 30 goals with 23 assists in 50 games for the Zurich SC Lions, which was similar to the output of the National League’s MVP from the season before: Dominik Kubalik, who had 25 goals and 32 assists in 50 games during the ‘18-19 hockey season and turned that into an NHL contract with the Blackhawks.
The first NHL point of Suter’s career came in last Sunday’s game against Florida, when Suter was credited with a secondary assist on Connor Murphy’s third-period goal. Through the first give games, Suter had that one point while averaging 15:05 of ice time.