BREAD & WIN
PANARIN TIES ITLATE IN THIRD, SEALS IT IN SHOOTOUT
There was no Artem Anisimov. There was no Nick Schmaltz. There was no Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Even as hot as the Blackhawks have been recently, losing two of your top- six forwards and one of your best defensemen is tough to overcome. But the Hawks figured out a way. Artemi Panarin tied the score with 1: 14 left in the third period, Panarin and Jonathan Toews scored in the shootout and Corey Crawford made 31 saves to fuel the Hawks to a 2- 1 victory Friday against the New York Islanders at the United Center.
The Hawks won their sixth consecutive game and 11th in their last 12 to move a point behind the idle Minnesota Wild for the Western Conference lead. Panarin’s goal saved the Hawks from suffering their fifth shutout of the season before he and Toews completed the rally in the shootout.
‘‘ There’s no doubt we have the guys to step up and make up for the loss of a few key players,’’ Toews said.
Brock Nelson scored in the second period and Thomas Greiss made 30 saves for the Islanders, who played Thursday in Dallas and are fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks don’t have to worry about a playoff spot, and they didn’t have much to worry about entering the game against the Islanders. All four lines were clicking, and the Hawks were getting closer to what they want to be.
But they didn’t show all of those things until late in the game.
‘‘ I thought we were pretty good defensively,’’ coach Joel Quenneville said. ‘‘ Second period, Crow made some big saves for us and hung in there. I thought our best period was the third. [ We] generated some zone time, possession time, some chances. Finally got one through.’’
For the first two periods, it didn’t look as though the Hawks would get one through Greiss.
‘‘ I think the first 40 [ minutes] maybe weren’t our best,’’ Toews said. ‘‘ I didn’t think we were playing with that speed and that energy that we have been as of late.’’
The teams ended an unmemorable first period scoreless, and there were only a couple of prime chances. The Islanders had one on a Hawks power play after a turnover that fell to John Tavares, but Crawford made a save.
The Hawks, who already were dealing with a plethora of injuries and absences, got a scare late in the first when a shot by the Islanders’ Nick Leddy hit center Marcus Kruger in the left arm. Kruger was clearly in pain and favoring the arm, but he stayed in the game.
The second period wasn’t that much better for the Hawks, who fell behind 1- 0 when Nelson scored at 13: 27 of the period.
The Hawks showed more life in the third, though. A pad save by Greiss on Ryan Hartman with 13: 09 left kept the Islanders ahead, where they stayed until Panarin’s late goal from the left circle.
‘‘ I think there was obviously more desperation being down a goal,’’ defenseman Duncan Keith said. ‘‘ We weren’t thrilled with how we played the first couple of periods, but we were moving pucks and getting up on the play and just skating better.
‘‘ I think it comes down to a little more desperation and pressing to get that goal to tie it up.’’