Blackhawks Edge Sharks 4-3 In OT
CHICAGO (AP) -- Jonathan Toews scored at 2:21 of overtime to give the surging Chicago Blackhawks a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.
Toews skated in with Patrick Kane for a two-on-one and tipped home a nice pass for his 11th goal.
Kane scored his 21st in the first period to help Chicago win for the second straight day and seventh time in nine games overall. The star forward has two goals and two assists in three games since his 26-game point streak ended last Tuesday against Colorado.
Joonas Donskoi had a goal and an assist for San Jose, which has dropped eight of 10. Tommy Wingels, a native of nearby Evanston, and Joe Pavelski also scored.
San Jose grabbed a 3-2 lead on Pavelski's 16th goal of the season at 14:45 of the second. Paul Martin's shot was tipped by Joe Thornton and got past Chicago center Dennis Rasmussen before it got to Pavelski in front of the net.
Chicago killed off two penalties in the third before Andrew Shaw made a great move to set up his sixth of the season. The scrappy forward drove to the net and stayed with the puck when Martin Jones tried to poke it away, and then beat the goalie into the right side of the net for the tying score at 6:51.
San Jose almost jumped in front again, but Corey Crawford made a terrific glove save on a shot by Donskoi with 8:57 remaining in the third. Crawford finished with 33 stops, and Artem Anisimov also scored for Chicago.
The Blackhawks played without Marian Hossa after the veteran winger was a surprise scratch with an upper-body injury. Hossa, who turns 37 on Jan. 12, played 23 shifts and 16:50 in a 3-2 shootout win Saturday at Buffalo, including two shifts in overtime.
The Sharks were without Joel Ward for the first time this season. The forward was scratched with an unspecified injury after he was on the receiving end of a boarding penalty by Ottawa defenseman Mark Borowiecki in the final seconds of the Sharks' 4-2 loss on Friday night.
While each team was short-handed, neither side had any trouble scoring early on.
There were four goals in the first 15:39. Anisimov scored his 12th after a bad turnover by Martin, but Donskoi responded with a nifty move on a breakaway and Wingels scored on a power play for his third of the season, giving the Sharks a 2-1 lead with 6:18 left in the period.
Kane then tied it with a rebound score. He has at least one point in 32 of Chicago's 35 games.
NOTES: Jones made 28 saves. ... San Jose forward Ben Smith returned from a concussion for his first game since Oct. 31. It also was his first game in Chicago since he was acquired in a trade with the Blackhawks on March 2. "It's great that he's back playing his first game in Chicago," coach Peter DeBoer said. "It's probably appropriate." ... Blackhawks forward Brandon Mashinter returned to the lineup after he was a healthy scratch for the previous two games. Mashinter made his NHL debut with San Jose in 2010. ... Toews played in his 600th NHL game. ... Chicago C Phillip Danault got an assist on Shaw's goal for his first NHL point in his fourth career game.
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