EXTRA SPECIAL
HOSSA TALLIES THIRD OVERTIME WINNER OF SEASON
BLACKHAWKS 4, DEVILS 3 ( OT)
The extended summer vacation that ensued after the Blackhawks’ first- round playoff exit last season keeps paying dividends for 37- yearold Marian Hossa.
“He seems to have found the fountain of youth; he’s looking better and stronger than ever,” defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said after Hossa’s wrist shot beat Cory Schneider in overtime to give the Hawks a 4- 3 victory Thursday over the New Jersey Devils before 21,351 at the United Center. “Whatever he’s doing, I’m just going to follow and do the same thing.”
With captain Jonathan Toews missing his fourth consecutive game with a back injury and the Hawks struggling to score goals, Hossa stepped up and made the difference. The goal was his fourth game- winner — the third in overtime — and his 12th of the season in 24 games. He scored 13 all of last season — when the rigors of three consecutive deep runs in the playoffs seemed to be taking a toll.
After taking a pass from Patrick Kane, Hossa drifted across the slot, held on to the puck and fired his shot past Schneider.
“Obviously, it feels great to score in OT,” Hossa said. “Kane gave it to me at the blue line. I tried to hold, see my options, and I didn’t see anything and tried to shoot through the screen. It wasn’t a hard shot, but I just tried to shoot it at the net.”
Hossa’s goal helped the Hawks overcome Travis Zajac’s hat trick and gave the Hawks ( 16- 6- 3) three wins in four games ( 3- 0- 1) without Toews.
It probably shouldn’t have been this difficult — the Devils ( 10- 7- 6) came in 3- 7- 3 on the road; the Hawks came in 9- 1- 2 at home.
But after falling behind 1- 0 in a sluggish first period, the Hawks found their groove in a three- goal second period, then found a way to win after Zajac’s third goal tied it at 8: 49 of the third period. Hossa’s goal came seconds after the Devils’ Taylor Hall was stopped on a breakaway and Michael Cammalleri hit the post in overtime.
“Maybe some young teams would [ hit] the panic button,” Hossa said. “There’s a calmness in the dressing room. Even when we don’t play the best game, we know we can steal one point and in overtime maybe we get another one. We’ve done a good job so far in that.”
Artem Anisimov scored his 10th goal with a forehand- to- backhand move off a rebound of a Duncan Keith slap shot to tie the game at 1 at 12: 25 of the second period. But the other two goals came from unlikely sources: forward Marcus Kruger ( his second goal of the season) on a wrist shot from the right circle off a rush and Hjalmarsson on a shot though traffic that gave the Hawks a 3- 2 lead.
“I didn’t mind our game,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “Finding a way to win — you’ve got to compliment our guys. We’ve played a lot of games that have been tight. We’ve gotten a lot of fortunate points, a lot of bonus points in the overtime, too. We’ll take our record. Every game’s been close. We’ve been fortunate, and we’ll take it.”
But even Hossa acknowledged the Hawks eventually will have to reach a higher level.
“Definitely,” he said. “Teams come in here ready to play us. They see us as a measurement. They bring their ‘ A’ game every night.
‘‘ When you have to play these ugly and tough games, it’s a good thing [ that] we find a way to win. But it would be nice to have some cushion.”
Follow me on Twitter @ MarkPotash.