NHL - Hawks - Round Up - December 01-09, 2016

New Jersey @ Hawks 3-4 OT - Thursday, December 01, 2016

Marian Hossa scored with 3:29 left in overtime for the Chicago Blackhawks, who overcame a hat trick by Travis Zajac in 4-3 victory against the New Jersey Devils at United Center. Seconds after Mike Cammalleri hit the post for New Jersey, Hossa ended the game with his 12th goal of the season. Chicago (16-6-3) got goals from Marcus Kruger, Artem Anisimov and Niklas Hjalmarsson. Corey Crawford made 30 saves. The Blackhawks, who lead the NHL with 35 points, have won three of four games (3-0-1) without captain Jonathan Toews (upper-body injury). Zajac scored a goal in all three periods for his second NHL hat trick and first since March 31, 2014 in the Devils' 6-3 win against the Florida Panthers. It wasn't enough to prevent another road loss for New Jersey, which dropped to 3-7-4 on the road with six straight losses (0-4-2). Cory Schneider made 29 saves for the Devils (10-7-6), who got left wing Taylor Hall back from an eight-game absence after he had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. The Blackhawks led 3-2 to start the third period and nearly made it 4-2 at 1:27 on an apparent goal by defenseman Brian Campbell. The ruling on the ice was no goal because Richard Panik ran into Schneider after his initial attempt was stopped. Chicago challenged, but the ruling was upheld after the review.

Zajac tied it 3-3 at 8:49 with his third goal, which he scored after a Blackhawks turnover in their own zone. The Devils took a 1-0 lead on Zajac's sixth goal at 3:13 of the first. He scored his second goal on a power play at 10:43 of the second, but the Blackhawks took a 3-2 lead on goals by Kruger at 1:02, Anisimov at 12:25 and Hjalmarsson at 18:25.

* Hossa scored his third overtime goal and fourth game-winner of the season. "I don't think the goalie saw much," he said. "It wasn't a hard shot, but I think I just tried to shoot it at the net."

* Crawford made back-to-back saves late in the third period to keep the score 3-3. The first was against Zajac at 16:21 and the second was three seconds later against Miles Wood.

* Kyle Palmieri got his stick on a pass by Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson on a power play in the second period, which sent the puck to Zajac for his second goal.

* Zajac's third goal was set up by Cammalleri. He intercepted a pass by Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith, faked a shot and sent a pass to Zajac for a one-timer. "He's smart player," Zajac said of Cammalleri. "When you think he's going to shoot, that's when he passes. When you think he's going to pass, that's when he shoots. That's what makes him good and dangerous."

* Toews is doubtful for Saturday's game at the Philadelphia Flyers. … Chicago defenseman Michal Rozsival played the 950th game of his NHL career. … The Devils placed forward Reid Boucher on waivers to bring Hall off injured reserve. … New Jersey rookie forward John Quenneville, a cousin of Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, made his NHL debut.

"Definitely [we're] missing a guy like that. Obviously, when he comes back it's going to be a big offensive boost, but the good thing is we're still finding a way to win the games. Tonight, it wasn't pretty but a big two points." Hossa said.
"It's a lot more than last year. I'll take that." Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger, on scoring his second goal of the season after scoring none in 41 games last season
"I definitely owed the team that [goal]. That was a bad giveaway." Niklas Hjalmarsson, on his goal 6:00 after his turnover led to Zajac's second goal

Hawks @ Philadelphia Flyers 1-3 - Saturday, December 03, 2016
Philadelphia Flyers rookie defenseman Ivan Provorov had a much better time playing the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday than he did in his first game against them. Provorov scored two goals in 31 seconds, including the game-winner, in a 3-1 victory at Wells Fargo Center. Provorov set a record for the fastest two goals by a Flyers defenseman; Joni Pitkanen scored twice in 2:42 against the Atlanta Thrashers on Feb. 21, 2004. Provorov also cleared a puck off the goal line late in the second period to prevent a goal. It was a far cry from when he was a minus-5 in the Flyers' 7-4 loss against the Blackhawks at United Center on Oct. 18. Brayden Schenn scored for the Flyers (13-10-3), who won their season-high fourth straight game. Steve Mason made 26 saves. Artemi Panarin scored for the Blackhawks (16-7-3). Scott Darling made 27 saves.

Darling started because Corey Crawford needed an appendectomy Saturday morning and will be out 2-3 weeks. Chicago signed Eric Semborski to an amateur tryout to be the backup goalie. Demborski, 23, played for the Temple University club hockey team, and also works as a coach and instructor for the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. The Flyers trailed 1-0 early in the second period when Provorov's shot from above the left circle went off the stick of Blackhawks defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and past Darling at 3:02. Then at 3:33, his slap shot from inside the blue line beat Darling to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Schenn finished a give-and-go with Travis Konecny at 8:37 of the second to make it 3-1. The Blackhawks thought they scored at 16:38 of the second when Richard Panik's shot from the side of the net hit off traffic in front, but Provorov gloved it out of the goal crease. Video review to check if the puck had crossed the goal line proved inconclusive. Provorov, 19, had one goal in his first 25 games but has played at least 20 minutes in eight straight games, including a Flyers-high 20:38 Saturday. Panarin's goal at 3:44 of the first period gave the Blackhawks an early lead, but they were unable to build on it.

* At 3:44 of the first period, Panarin slammed home a pass from Artem Anisimov, who had made a nice move to drag the puck around Flyers defenseman Michael Del Zotto.

* Panik shot his rebound off Mason, but Provorov jumped behind him and gloved the puck off the goal line at 16:38 of the second period.

* Blackhawks forward Vinnie Hinostroza was pursuing a loose puck in his end when Flyers forward Chris VandeVedle whacked his stick away and spun the puck deep at 2:50 of the second period, which led to Provorov's first goal.

* Flyers forward Michael Raffl intercepted a pass by Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane at center ice, carried the puck behind Chicago's net and from the corner found an open Provorov, who scored his second of the game at 3:33 of the second period.

* Flyers captain Claude Giroux played his 600th NHL game. … Mason's win was his 86th with the Flyers, seventh on their all-time list. He's one behind Pelle Lindbergh. … Panarin's goal was his third in four games against the Flyers.

"I didn't mind most of the game. There were stretches in our own end that coverage was off, especially with their defensemen coming down from their own end." Joel Quenneville said.
"I don't think so. I signed some stuff when I came in, but I don't know what it was. Really, I'm happy with a hat and the memories. This is so cool." Blackhawks emergency backup goaltender Eric Semborski when asked if he was getting paid.

Phoenix Coyotes @ Hawks 0-4 - Tuesday, December 06, 2016

Scott Darling made 22 saves for his first shutout of the season and Marian Hossa continued his resurgent season with two goals in the Chicago Blackhawks' 4-0 win against the Coyotes at United Center. Darling, starting his third game for the injured Corey Crawford, made nine saves in the first period, six in the second and seven in the third. It was his third career shutout. Hossa, playing in his 27th game, scored in the second and third periods for his 13th and 14th goals of the season. That's one more than he had in 64 games last season. Hossa has 513 career NHL goals and is tied with former Blackhawks forward Jeremy Roenick for 38th all-time. Artem Anisimov scored in the first and Dennis Rasmussen scored in the second for the Blackhawks (17-8-3), who had lost their past two games. Right wing Patrick Kane had an assist in his fourth straight game. Mike Smith made 23 saves for the Coyotes (8-13-4), who've lost their past five games (0-3-2) and both ends of a road back-to-back that started with a 4-1 loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday. Leading 1-0 on Anisimov's power-play goal at 15:37, the Blackhawks pushed it to 3-0 on goals 19 seconds apart by Hossa and Rasmussen in the second. Hossa scored off a 2-on-1 rush at 6:26, and Rasmussen scored off a feed from Richard Panik at 6:45. Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook left late in the second period after an awkward fall and didn't return.

* Hossa's first goal. Trevor van Riemsdyk hit Ryan Hartman with a stretch pass for a 2-on-1 rush. Hartman sent a pass to Hossa, who kicked the puck to his stick and scored into the short side of the net.

* Jordin Tootoo received a stretch pass from van Riemsdyk at the Coyotes blue line for a breakaway with 8:12 left in the second period. Smith turned away Tootoo's low wrist shot with his left pad.

* Hossa's second goal put the Blackhawks ahead 4-0 with 3:16 to play. After getting a stretch pass from defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson at the Coyotes blue line, he scored off the breakaway with a slap shot. "That was a beautiful play by [Hjalmarsson] on that last goal," Hossa said. "But when you've got the time, you can aim a little bit."
* Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews, who missed his seventh straight game with a reported back injury, hasn't skated since Sunday and will take at least two more days off this week.

"That's the way you want to play. I can't remember one extremely Grade A chance we gave up. The guys were great, the [defensemen] were great the forwards were great on defense. That was nice for me." Darling said.
"He's been a scorer most of his life. Last year was tough luck. He probably had more shots than he's getting this year, but sometimes you get a little bit finer touch [and] you get that finish."
 "I liked what we gave up tonight, not much. I thought we had good balance, one of our better games defensively across the board and scored some nice goals. Nice to see [Hossa] continue his nice roll he's had all year." Joel Quenneville said.

NY Rangers @ Hawks 1-0 OT - Friday, December 09, 2016


Antti Raanta made 26 saves, and Nick Holden scored 55 seconds into overtime to give the New York Rangers a 1-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center. Raanta got his first shutout of the season one day after defeating the Winnipeg Jets 2-1. Scott Darling, who replaced Raanta as Chicago's backup goalie in 2014-15, made 36 saves starting his fourth game in a row for Corey Crawford, who is recovering from an appendectomy. Raanta started each game of the back-to-back for New York (19-9-1) instead of Henrik Lundqvist and made 43 saves on 44 shots. Raanta made nine saves in the first period Friday, 10 in the second and seven in the third. Raanta stopped Ryan Hartman from scoring off a turnover 24 seconds into the game and made a sprawling save at 5:10 off a one-timer by Patrick Kane. Darling's best save of his 12 in the first period came when he stopped a tipped shot by Kevin Hayes with 5:51 left. Darling also made a glove save against J.T. Miller with 1:00 left. Raanta made a lunging save at 12:03 of the second period to stop a wrist shot by Richard Panik, and Darling did the same at 15:40 to thwart Jesper Fast. Raanta did allow a goal by Marian Hossa at 6:00 of the third period, but it was overturned by a coach's challenge video review that showed he was offside entering the zone.

* Holden got a pass from Derek Stepan less than a minute into overtime, carried the puck down the slot and shot past Darling into the upper left corner.

* Raanta made a save with 7:57 left in the second period to prevent Panik from completing a tic-tac-toe play after passes from Artem Anisimov and Panarin.

"When the puck went to Panarin, I was thinking he was going to shoot it," Raanta said. "So, suddenly he moves it back to the middle, and I was just trying to get something in front of the puck. A little bit old-school. I was lucky enough to get that save."

* After Darling made saves against Dan Girardi and Stepan late in the second period, Girardi got the puck in the high slot. Hossa stepped in front of his wrist shot with 4:39 left and blocked it to end New York's possession.

* The Rangers nearly scored with 4:20 left in the second period, but Darling sprawled to deny Fast's attempt off a 2-on-1 with a left-pad save.

* Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews missed his eighth game with what's been reported to be a back injury. He hasn't skated since Sunday. Chicago (17-8-4) is 4-2-2 without him. … Chicago also played without defenseman Brent Seabrook (upper body). … The Rangers got rookie left wing Jimmy Vesey back from an upper-body injury. … Kane left after taking a hit in the second period but returned.

"It kind of builds your intensity. He's making big saves. You don't want to be the guy to let one in, so you just kind of … it's like we're going against each other." Darling said.
"It was all friendly. Just saying 'Good job' and we're happy for one another." Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling on his postgame, on-ice greeting with Rangers goalie Antti Raanta