Blackhawks Down Stars 3-2 On Kane's Game Winner
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DALLAS (AP) — After a fast start, the Chicago Blackhawks came up with a big finish.
Patrick Kane assisted on a goal 11 seconds into the game, then scored the go-ahead goal in the second period of Chicago's 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.
Chicago's penalty killers and goalie Corey Crawford kept the Stars from scoring on a power play over the last 1:49. The Blackhawks extended their winning streak to five games, and are 6-0-1 in their last seven.
Dallas is 1-3-1 in the last five games.
"I thought we did some decent things in the second half of the game," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said.
"Big saves, big clears and working together," Quenneville said of the game-saving penalty kill.
Kane's 46 points (20 goals, 26 assists) against Dallas are his most against any team, in only 36 games.
Chicago erased a 2-1 deficit with second-period goals by Ryan Hartman at 2:59 and Kane on the power play at 7:40 against Stars goalie Antti Niemi.
Teammates to the left of the net were occupying Niemi. Kane skated in from the right to put the puck into a nearly empty right side when it came across from Artem Anisimov.
"Really anybody could have scored that goal standing in the back door," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "He's a world-class player in this league. We were able to handle his speed, but he knows where to go. It was a mishit, but it went over and he was in the right spot."
The Blackhawks scored 11 seconds into the game when Richard Panik scored his seventh goal by wristing in the rebound of a shot by Kane.
"You probably couldn't ask for a better start," Kane said.
Dallas took a 2-1 lead on goals by Brett Ritchie at 7:21 of the first and Curtis McKenzie at 9:49.
Crawford held the Stars scoreless after that. He finished with 31 saves, four on the last power play.
"It was a great job by our PK to keep them on the outside and stay patient," Crawford said. "A couple key moments, we were able to get the puck outside of the zone."
If the Stars could have scored to tie the game, they still would have had a power play in overtime, because the Blackhawks' Marcus Kruger had been assessed a double minor for high sticking.
"It's always been a strength of our team, blocking shots, killing penalties," Kane said.
Niemi made 29 saves.
Ritchie tied the score when he skated into the slot, took a pass from Antoine Roussel and put in a wrist shot off Crawford's left arm.
Less than 3 minutes later, Stephen Johns sent a shot from the right point. There followed a scramble with three players from each team around Crawford. Rookie Gemel Smith poked at the puck, which went in off McKenzie's right skate.
Hartman ended a 32-second flurry of four good chances for Chicago by driving a slap shot from the right faceoff circle past Niemi to tie the game at 2.
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