HAWKS WORK OVERTIME FOR WIN
Crawford keeps it close before Hossa ties game, Anisimov wins it in OT
NEWARK, N. J. — After the warmup laps, the line rushes and the shooting session, a typical morning skate devolves into guys doing their own thing for a few minutes.
The defensemen work on receiving passes while backpedaling, and the forwards scatter to work on faceoffs and stickhandling. Some guys just chat idly along the benches before filtering back into the dressing room.
But Friday at the Prudential Center, the Blackhawks held a fullblown special- teams practice session, with penalty- killing units going up against power- play groupings at either end of the ice. This, after the Hawks spent consecutive days off the ice. Coach Joel Quenneville is trying anything to snap his team out of its early- season mediocrity.
‘‘ We try different things over the course of the season,’’ Quenneville said. ‘‘ And we don’t like the way we began the season here.’’
The Hawks’ 3- 2 overtime victory against the New Jersey Devils wasn’t a heck of a lot different, but there were certainly signs of progress. The Hawks, as has been their habit, waited until the third period to get going, scrambling their way to overtime on a power- play goal by Marian Hossa with 2: 11 left and winning the game on a goal by Artem Anisimov in the extra session.
But they did kill three penalties to close the game, and they did score two power- play goals, including Hossa’s at the tail end of a four- minute man advantage.
It was the third consecutive game the Hawks rallied in the third period to get to overtime.
‘‘ We found a way to win this one,’’ goalie Corey Crawford said. ‘‘ You can feel we’re starting to play better hockey, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.’’
Indeed, before the late heroics, the Hawks gave up another powerplay goal. They again were heavily outshot in the first two periods ( 28- 12), have been outshot in seven of eight first periods this season and have given up 10 or more shots on goal in 13 of 24 periods. And Crawford ( 30 saves) again was the primary reason the Hawks were in the game long enough for Hossa to tie it.
‘‘ He’s huge,’’ Anisimov said of Crawford. ‘‘ He’s always big for us. He makes saves when we need him to. He just played another great game.’’
The penalty- killing woes continue to be the dominant theme of the season, and until the Hawks kill a bunch of penalties in a row, they won’t be able to kill the narrative.
The Devils took a 1- 0 lead at 15: 32 of the first period when P. A. Parenteau scored on a rebound. At that point, the Hawks had given up 15 goals on 27 opposing power plays, a percentage so staggeringly bad that it almost has to be a fluke. They killed three in a row after that, reaching the 50 percent mark. A good PK is in the mid- 80s.
‘‘ We seem to be getting comfortable, settling into place and knowing our roles and knowing what we’ve got to do and just working at it and notmaybe overdoing it or getting out of position,’’ said center Jonathan Toews, who set up Hossa’s equalizer with a strong play at the net.
Artemi Panarin tied the score 1- 1 on a power- play goal in the second, but the Devils’ John Moore scored at 4: 06 of the third. The score stayed 2- 1 — with the Hawks killing off another penalty — until Hossa tied it and Anisimov won it.
And despite all their faults, thanks to some timely late goals and Crawford’s terrific play in net, the Hawks are a respectable 4- 3- 1 on the young season.
‘‘ It was a huge win,’’ Quenneville said. ‘‘ We’ve had a couple of wins like that, but we still need better in between.’’