Power-Play Goal, 2 Assists For Patrick Kane As Blackhawks Beat Vancouver
CHICAGO (AP) -- Patrick Kane had a power-play goal and two assists, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday night.
Alex DeBrincat and Andrew Shaw scored in the first period, and Dylan Strome had three assists as Chicago dealt Vancouver its first regulation loss since Oct. 19 at New Jersey. David Kampf and Brandon Saad added empty-netters.
J.T. Miller and Jake Virtanen scored for the much-improved Canucks, who entered on a 5-0-3 run to climb to second place in the Pacific Division.
Chicago's Corey Crawford made 36 saves. Jacob Markstrom blocked 32 shots.
Shaw's power-play connection ended his 12-game goal drought. The Blackhawks scored twice with the man advantage for the first time since Feb. 22, a span of 35 games.
Chicago struck early at home following a 1-2-1 road trip.
DeBrincat opened the scoring 6:41 in from high in the slot. After slipping free from rookie defenseman Quinn Hughes, DeBrincat fired as he tumbled and beat Markstrom on the stick side.
Vancouver defenseman Troy Stecher saved a goal when he dropped and blocked Kampf's point-blank one-timer with about seven minutes left in the period.
Shaw made it 2-0 with 1:17 remaining in the first, just 11 seconds after Miller was sent off for hooking. Shaw one-timed Strome's feed from behind the net to finish a quick, tight passing play.
Miller deflected in a power-play goal at 1:03 of the second, scoring with just one second left on Jonathan Toews' slashing penalty. Miller was a parked just left of the net when Elias Pettersson's pass across the creased caromed in off the shaft of his stick.
Crawford stopped Brock Boeser's close-in backhander with 8:02 left to preserve the lead.
Kane's goal, his fifth, with 5:06 left in the third made it 3-1. He beat Markstrom on the glove side with a screened shot from just above the left circle.
Kampf's short-handed empty netter with 2:07 left gave Chicago a 4-1 lead.
Virtanen deflected Alexander Edler's shot from the point with 1:01 left to cut it to 4-2, but Saad scored into an empty net with six seconds remaining.
NOTES: Shaw hadn't scored since connecting twice in the Blackhawks home opener on Oct. 10 versus San Jose. ... Blackhawks rookie F Dominik Kubalik was a healthy scratch after skating in Chicago's first 14 games. ... Markstrom nearly scored an own-goal about six minutes into the second. He came out to play a loose puck with Strome closing in, but instead of backhanding it behind the net, he hit the side of it.
UP NEXT
Canucks: At Winnipeg on Friday.
Blackhawks: At Pittsburgh on Saturday.
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