Blackhawks beat Predators for eighth straight victory
CHICAGO: Andrew Shaw scored two goals and the Chicago Blackhawks celebrated coach Joel Quenneville’s contract extension on Tuesday night with a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators for their eighth consecutive win.
Brent Seabrook also scored for Chicago, which were without centre Artem Anisimov due to an illness. Corey Crawford made 41 saves and Marian Hossa added two assists on his 37th birthday.
The Blackhawks closed out a perfect four-game homestand hours after they announced a three-year extension with Quenneville that runs through the 201920 season.
Quenneville, the only active coach with three Stanley Cup titles, also moved into a tie with Al Arbour for second on the NHL list with his 782nd victory, trailing only Scotty Bowman (1,244).
In other games, Tampa Bay beat Colorado in Denver for the first time in over a decade 4-0, Ty Rattie netted his first NHL goal to lead St Louis past New Jersey 5-2, and rookie Max Domi’s hat-trick rallied Arizona past Edmonton 4-3 in overtime for their fourth straight win.
Ben Bishop stopped 21 shots for his second shut-out of the season and Steven Stamkos scored twice to help Tampa Bay to their first win in Denver since March 2004.
Ondrej Palat added a goal and two assists, and Tyler Johnson scored late as the Lightning wrapped up a 3-1 road trip.
In St Louis, Patrik Berglund scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the second period, and Rattie deflected a shot from Kevin Shattenkirk early in the third for St Louis, which won in regulation for the first time since Dec 22.
St Louis also won their fifth in a row against New Jersey, which lost for the fourth time in five games.
Arizona’s Oliver Ekman-Larrson’s goal with nine seconds left in overtime to lead the Coyotes to victory.
Louis Domingue made 25 saves for his fourth victory in a row. Ekman-Larrson assisted on all three goals that accounted for Domi’s first NHL hat-trick. Domi hadn’t scored since Dec 4 when he had two goals at Buffalo.
Elsewhere, Brian Gionta had a goal and an assist as Buffalo scored three times in the first period and hung on to beat Minnesota 3-2.
Jamie McGinn and Rasmus Ristolainen also scored for the Sabres, who won their second straight after losing six in a row. Linus Ullmark made 28 saves.
San Jose’s Joe Pavelski scored his 22nd goal of the season and added an assist to help the Sharks defeat Winnipeg 4-1.
San Jose were playing their third game in four nights and won them all.