Toews treble leads Hawks past Wild
ST PAUL: Jonathan Toews had three goals and two assists as the Chicago Blackhawks beat Minnesota 5-3 on Tuesday night for their second win over the Western Conference-leading Wild in less than two weeks.
Toews notched his fourth career hattrick on an empty-netter with 1:02 minutes left to stave off a spirited rally by the Wild, who began a franchise-record eight-game homestand on Feb 8 with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Blackhawks. Toews had a goal and two assists in that one and has 37 points in 35 career games against Minnesota.
The Chicago captain has been chewing up almost everyone else, too, with 20 points in his last 12 games. Toews’ wing men Nick Schmaltz and Richard Panik had the other goals, giving the Blackhawks 34 goals in their last eight games. Their first line totalled nine points.
Mikael Granlund’s second power-play goal for the Wild brought them within 4-3, before Ryan Suter hit the crossbar with a shot that nearly tied it.
In New York, Paul Byron scored in the fifth round of the shoot-out and Montreal gave coach Claude Julien his first win in his second stint with the Canadiens.
Carey Price made 28 saves for Montreal. Price stopped Kevin Hayes and JT Miller twice in the OT, including a diving save in the closing seconds of the extra period.
Shea Weber had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens. Andrew Shaw also scored for Montreal.
The Rangers’ Mats Zuccarello opened the shoot-out with a goal and Montreal’s Alexander Radulov tied it in the third round.
Rick Nash and Oscar Lindberg scored in regulation for the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves as New York snapped their five-game home win streak.
In Raleigh, Sidney Crosby scored the goahead goal on a deflection in the second period, and Pittsburgh beat Carolina 3-1.
Evgeni Malkin and Scott Wilson also scored to help the reigning Stanley Cup champions bounce back from their only loss since the All-Star break. Pittsburgh moved three points behind East-leading Washington and are 7-1-3 since the break.
Jeff Skinner scored for the last-place Hurricanes, who have their second five-game losing streak in the past five weeks. They have been outscored 19-4 during the current slide.
In Nashville, Mark Giordano scored 43 seconds into overtime, and Calgary edged Nashville 6-5 in a crucial game between teams holding the Western Conference’s wild cards.
The Flames have won two of their last three games. They pulled within a point of Nashville, though the Predators have a game in hand.
Mikael Backlund tied it at 5 at 10:50 minutes of the third with his second goal of the game and 17th this season with a wrister.
Micheal Ferlund also had two goals, Dougie Hamilton added a goal and Johnny Gaudreau had four assists.
Filip Forsberg had a hat-trick in the second period, and Colin Wilson and PK Subban each had a goal and an assist for Nashville.
Giordano’s game-winner appeared to go off Forsberg’s skate past goalie Juuse Saros.