DENVER (AP) - A resurgent power play figured prominently in the Chicago Blackhawks’ latest win.
Patrick Kane scored his second goal of the game 41 seconds into overtime and the Blackhawks beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Saturday night.
The Blackhawks were on a power play when Kane knocked in the decisive shot from the slot off a feed from Jonathan Toews for Chicago’s fifth victory in six games. Two have come at the expense of the Avalanche, who lost their fourth straight.
“Some great plays by some of my teammates and I think the power play is starting to feel it a little bit,” Kane said. “Even though we didn’t score on that 5-on-3 tonight, it’s been a lot better the past eight to 10 games, so that always helps.”
Kane, who leads the Blackhawks with 22 goals, extended his point streak to seven games. He has seven goals during that stretch - three of them game-winners - and six assists.
Alex Debrincat also scored for Chicago on a power play. The Blackhawks have converted seven of their last 20 chances.
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen had the goals for Colorado, which hurt itself with penalties.
“You take eight minutes of penalties in the last seven minutes of the game - tough to win,” coach Jared Bednar said. “I didn’t like those penalties by our team. We hit a guy from behind, you kind of give him a shot in the (defensive) zone, it’s a penalty. We get a guy high in the last minute of the game, an accidental high stick when we’re already killing a penalty. They’re not good.”
Chicago capitalized just enough to come out on top.
“Our first period was really good,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “I loved a lot of things that we did. The second period, we needed to make a few more plays with the puck. We invited their pressure and we got into some trouble. Third period, I thought we were good. Would’ve loved to score on the 5-on-3, but we got the extra point and a big win.”
The Avalanche evened it at 2 with an extra attacker on the ice because of a delayed penalty. MacKinnon, who had just missed a couple of attempts in close, jumped on the ice from the bench after the Avalanche pulled their goalie and let fly a shot from the point that rocketed into the net through traffic at 18:21 of the second period.
Down 2-0, the Avalanche got on the board at 17:04 of the first on Rantanen’s power-play goal that got past Collin Delia, who nonetheless made 30 saves and is 3-0 this season. Tyson Barrie set it up with his 208th career assist, most by a defenseman in team history.
The Blackhawks struck twice in the first 10 minutes, starting with a power-play score by Debrincat, who beat goalie Semyon Varlamov with a shot from inside the left circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Kane.
Kane also drew the slashing penalty that put Alexander Kerfoot in the box, and the Blackhawks soon converted.
Kane, who had a hat trick in a 5-2 win over Minnesota on Thursday, made it 2-0 at 9:38 of the first when he one-timed a shot from the right circle after getting a pass from Artem Anisimov.
NOTES: Blackhawks C Marcus Kruger has been activated from injured reserve after missing four games with a concussion. … Avalanche D Nikita Zadarov missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury. … MacKinnon was selected Central Division captain for the NHL All-Star game on Jan. 26 in San Jose, California. … Chicago improved to 9-4-2 against fellow Central Division teams this season.
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Face the Boston Bruins in the Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium on Tuesday.
Avalanche: Continue a four-game homestand Monday night against the Los Angeles Kings.
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