Caps Rally To Beat Sliding Blackhawks
CHICAGO (AP) — Andre Burakovsky, Marcus Johansson, and Joel Ward scored in a 4:52 span late in the second period, and the Washington Capitals rallied to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 Friday night, ending a five-game losing streak.
Braden Holtby made 38 saves for the Capitals, who were 0-4-1 since winning at Calgary on Oct. 25.
Brandon Saad and Duncan Keith scored for Chicago, which led 2-0, but then came unglued after Burakovsky scored with just under 5 minutes left in the second.
Corey Crawford made 21 saves for the Blackhawks, who have lost three of four and are 3-6-0 in their last nine.
The Blackhawks played their first game without forward Patrick Sharp, who is expected to miss a month after injuring his right knee Tuesday at Montreal. Sharp led Chicago last season with 34 goals and 44 assists.
Washington star Alex Ovechkin was held without a point after recording two assists on Tuesday to become the leading scorer in franchise history.
The Blackhawks dominated as the first period progressed. Saad opened the scoring with 2:48 left in the period on Chicago's 15th shot to complete a 2-on-1 break with Marian Hossa.
After taking Hossa's cross-ice pass, Saad fired a low one-timer that struck the inside of Holtby's left pad and slid into the net.
Ovechkin was penalized for an illegal hit to the head of Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson with 16 seconds left in the first, and Keith scored on the power play 56 seconds into the second to make it 2-0. He swooped into the right circle and fired in a rebound through traffic.
The Capitals then connected three times late in the period to take the lead. The last two goals came 42 seconds apart in the final minute.
Burakovsky cut it to 2-1 with 4:57 left to complete a 2-on-1 with Troy Brouwer. After faking a pass, he closed in and fired a perfect shot over Crawford's left shoulder and just under the crossbar.
The Blackhawks were skating around in their zone following a failed clearing attempt, and Johansson tied it at 2 with 47 seconds remaining in the period on a low shot from right circle that ticked in off the stick of Chicago defeneman Brent Seabrook.
Ward's goalmouth deflection of Matt Niskanen's shot from the point with 5 seconds left in the frame put Washington ahead.
The Blackhawks didn't regroup and didn't sustain consistent pressure until late in the third. Holtby made an sharp save on Kris Versteeg's shot from the left circle with about 90 seconds left.
NOTES: Washington C Brooks Laich returned after missing seven games with an injured shoulder. ... TheBlackhawks recalled F Peter Regin from Rockford of the AHL to fill Sharp's roster spot. Also still out for Chicago is F Daniel Carcillo (lower body), who missed his seventh game. ... The Capitals and Blackhawks meet again in the NHL Winter Classic at Nationals Park on Jan. 1. To promote the outdoor game, the two teams wore Winter Classic stocking caps in Friday's warm-ups.
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