Winnipeg Jets @ Chicago Blackhawks 0-2
Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 25 games, Corey Crawford made 25 saves, and the Blackhawks won 2-0 against the Jets at United Center. Kane's power-play goal at 10:36 of the second period put the Blackhawks up 2-0 and pushed his streak into a tie with Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby for the longest since the 1992-93 season, when Mats Sundin had a 30-game streak for the Quebec Nordiques. Crosby's 25-game streak was in 2010-11. Jonathan Toews scored his ninth goal to help the Blackhawks rebound from a 5-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday. Chicago went 2-for-5 on the power play; Winnipeg was 0-for-5 and had one shot on goal during 8:59 of man-advantage time. Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves for Winnipeg, which split a back-to-back set after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-4 at MTS Centre on Thursday. Hellebucyk lost for the first time in five NHL starts (4-1-0). The Jets finished with a big advantage in shot attempts (57-45), but the Blackhawks outshot them 31-25 because they blocked a season-high 23 shots. The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead on Toews' goal at 4:34 of the first, on the first of three Chicago power plays in the period. Toews cleaned up a scramble in front of the crease by pushing the puck into the net. Andrew Shaw and Marian Hossa got the assists after defenseman David Rundblad put the puck on net with a slap shot from the left point. The Blackhawks power play, which has battled inconsistency the past few seasons, is fifth in the NHL at 22 percent (22-for-99).
Chicago has at least one power-play goal in seven of its past 10 games. Kane cashed in for Chicago's second power-play goal midway through the second. After a tape-to-tape pass by Teuvo Teravainen, who looked a different direction before moving the puck, Kane beat Hellebucyk high to the short side with a snap shot to extend his point streak. The Blackhawks have defeated the Jets in two of their first three games. Crawford has allowed one goal on 56 shots in Chicago's two victories (.982 save percentage) and four goals on 87 shots in the three games (.954). His busiest period this time was the third, when Winnipeg outshot Chicago 13-10 and created a couple quality scoring chances. Kane leads the NHL with 45 points and is second in goals with 19. Crawford's shutout was his third this season and the 15th of his NHL career. Jets center Blake Wheeler had one of his two attempts blocked.
Patrick Kane: "It's not really important, but I think it's one of those things when you realize what elite company you're in, when you're with these great players that have had these great streaks, it definitely humbles you. I obviously feel honored and very fortunate to be involved with names like those."
"There's definitely a focus on it this year. We want to make sure we're doing the right things on the power play to try and create chances and score goals, and not lose the momentum. That's probably the biggest thing, as we we've seen in the past, sometimes on our power plays we can lose momentum and kind of give that team an extra edge. I think we're doing a good job of not only keeping that momentum, but cashing in when we get those chances."
Corey Crawford: "The power play was rolling, [and] our [penalty kill] was solid. I don't know how many we killed off tonight, but it felt like a lot. There [were] maybe some [penalties] we could've avoided taking, but it was a good game for us."
Joel Quenneville: "It was a great goal. What a play. What a shot. It continues on. It's fun being a part of it and fun watching him continue finding ways [to extend it]. He gets some looks every single night, and for an opponent, he's tough to contain."
Blake Wheeler: "[The Blackhawks'] sticks are probably as good as it gets in the League. They're not a very physical team, but they skate so well and their sticks are so strong that you think you have maybe more than you do, and then they knock it down and go the other way."
"I think we simplified a little bit in the third period and just had a focused mindset of just trying to get some shots at their goalie. From that, we created some really high-quality chances that we just couldn't get to go in the net."
Minnesota Wild @ Phoenix Coyotes 1-2 OT
It had been 13 days between home games for the Coyotes, but Mikkel Boedker had no problems picking up where he left off in the desert. Boedker scored two goals, including the game-winner on the power play 34 seconds into overtime, in the Coyotes' 2-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Gila River Arena.
Boedker had a hat trick in his previous home game, a 4-3 win against the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 28. Since then, he hadn't scored a goal and the Coyotes went 0-5-0 on their road trip. Boedker tied the game 1-1 on a breakaway late in the second period, and then won it by pouncing on the rebound of a deflected Michael Stone shot and steering it home on the backhand. Anders Lindback made 27 saves for the Coyotes, who killed four Wild power plays and finally converted on their fifth man-advantage opportunity.
Lindback, playing for Mike Smith, who has a lower-body injury, atoned for his previous start, when he allowed five goals in a 5-4 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. Zach Parise was called for high sticking against Brad Richardson 16 seconds into overtime, and the Coyotes turned the opportunity into their third overtime win in four chances. The Wild are 1-6 in overtime games after losing five straight, including the first two of their three-game road trip (also 2-1 at the Colorado Avalanche on Monday) that ends against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. Lindback made 10 saves in the first period, half of them on prime scoring chances, to help keep the game scoreless. He stopped Jason Pominville twice, one with an outstretched pad and the other with a blocker save on a hard one-timer from the right faceoff circle. Lindback also denied two power-play stuff attempts by Parise, who had four shots in the period. The Coyotes went more than 10 minutes without a shot to open the second period, but the Wild kept up the pressure and finally cashed in. Parise banked the puck past Nicklas Grossmann along the boards and regained possession on the rush. He lifted a centering pass over Stone, and Spurgeon swatted the puck out of the air and past Lindback at 6:33. It was Spurgeon's fourth goal, his first in 10 games. The Wild nearly doubled their lead on two occasions; Jason Zucker hit the post, and Pominville hit the crossbar. The Coyotes got even on their seventh shot in the first 37 minutes. Tobias Rieder gained control of the puck after a faceoff in the zone and pushed it to the other end. Boedker caught up to the puck near the right hash marks in the Minnesota zone and beat Kuemper on the forehand at 17:50. Parise extended his scoring streak against the Coyotes to 13 games, the longest active streak for a player against one team, with an assist on Jared Spurgeon's second-period goal.
Zach Parise: "Tough play. I'm going for the puck and I got him in the face. You've got to call it. If that would have happened to me, I would have expected a call too."
Mike Yeo: "[Losing in overtime] is going to happen, but the game was there for us early. We got away from things we were doing in the second period and we took too many penalties in the third. We turned the puck over and got away from the mentality of playing behind their defense."
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