The Chicago Blackhawks have won a League-high nine games in overtime this season, and their captain is personally responsible for more than half of those victories. Jonathan Toews scored his NHL-leading fifth overtime goal with 28.5 seconds left to give the Blackhawks a 5-4 win against the Coyotes at Gila River Arena.
The game was tied four times before Toews, coming off a one-game suspension after sitting out the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game with an illness, beat goalie Louis Domingue with a wrist shot for his second goal of the game. It came just after Domingue had fended off a 3-on-1 Chicago break with two saves.
Toews tied the NHL single-season record for overtime goals, set by Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2011-12, when teams played 4-on-4 in the extra period. This is the first season of 3-on-3 overtime. Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane and Michal Rozsival had goals and Artemi Panarin contributed three assists for the Blackhawks, who remained two points behind the Washington Capitals in the race for the NHL's best record. Goaltender Corey Crawford made 24 saves, three of them in overtime, in front of a sellout crowd of 17,125 that including a lot of Blackhawks fans.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Mikkel Boedker, Jordan Martinook and Shane Doan scored for Phoenix, who lost for the seventh time in nine games. Domingue made 35 saves but has allowed 15 goals in the past three games. The Coyotes trail the Anaheim Ducks by one point in the race for third place in Pacific Division. The teams play at Honda Center on Friday. Doan tied the game for the fourth time with 8:30 left in regulation to force the overtime.
The Blackhawks didn't have a shot on goal for the first 11:38 of play but still controlled the puck and appeared to take a first-period lead when Hossa put home a Toews rebound at 15:40. But Dave Tippett successfully challenged the play, contending that Domingue had been interfered with, and the goal was waved off. Quenneville argued the call and was assessed a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, putting Phoenix on the power play. Off the rush, Martin Hanzal found Ekman-Larsson between the circles and he beat Crawford with a wrist shot past the glove at 17:12 to put the Coyotes in front. It was the 15th goal of the season for Ekman-Larsson, who also had two assists, and his first in 15 career games against the Blackhawks. He has 21 goals in his past 62 games, dating to March 19, 2015.
The teams combined for five goals in a wild second period, and Hossa was in the middle of much of it. He got it started with a goal that counted at 2:53 when he skated along the goal line, pulled Domingue off the near post and floated a backhand shot that rode up the goaltender's back and into the net for his ninth goal. Hossa is five shy of 500 goals in his career. With Phoenix on the power play, Hossa eased down the ice with the puck and drew two defenders before finding Toews with a backhand pass in the slot. Toews beat Domingue with a backhander of his own at 4:00 and the Blackhawks had a 2-1 lead.
The Coyotes answered with two goals nine seconds apart to reclaim the lead.
With Chicago's Andrew Shaw in the box for charging, Ekman-Larsson set up Boedker for a wrist shot that beat Crawford to the stick side at 12:26. It was Boedker's 13th goal of the season but his first in 16 games. Brad Richardson won the ensuing faceoff and took a Viktor Tikhonov dump-in straight to the net. Crawford made the save but Martinook pushed the rebound past him at 12:35 to make it 3-2. Martinook's seventh goal was his third in the past five games.
The lead lasted less than two minutes. Kane had plenty of time to fake a pass and get Domingue moving before he put his NHL-leading 31st goal between the rookie's pads at 14:10.
Chicago took eight of the first nine shots on goal in the third period and went ahead 4-3 at 7:18. With the teams skating 4-on-4. Rozsival snuck in front of the net and was all along to redirect an Artem Anisimov shot into the wide-open right side. It was the veteran defenseman's first goal in 76 games, dating to Dec. 5, 2014, against the Montreal Canadiens. But the Coyotes answered again. Doan took a Martinook pass from behind the net, and his wraparound attempt found a hole under Crawford's arm. Toews's second goal of the game was his 21st of the season.
Hawks Quotes
Jonathan Toews: "It's about getting opportunities [in overtime]. After you get a few early in the season you feel confident in the situation. I think I had three or four shifts that overtime and when you get that kind of ice time and the play is going back and forth like that, somebody's going to score. It's nice I've been able to cash in on those situations.""I think that was the Hossa we know very well, making all those singlehanded efforts and taking the puck to the net the way he did in the second period. I think he was deserving of that first one, but he scored another big one for us."
Joel Quenneville: "It was a heck of a hockey game, back-and-forth, and the building was alive. Both teams had A-plus chances in overtime and Johnny's been pretty good in that situation for us."
Marian Hossa: "[Quenneville] got really emotional, but that's his style. He looked [at the replay] and said 'That is 100 percent a goal,' and as soon as they said no goal he went bananas."
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