Kane has hat trick, Blackhawks beat Penguins

CHICAGO >> Patrick Kane had his second hat trick in three games, Scott Darling made 36 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight victory and 10th in 11 games.

Richard Panik also scored to help Chicago pull within three points of first-place Minnesota in the Central Division and Western Conference. Kane, last season’s MVP, has a team-leading 27 goals — scoring 12 times and adding seven assists in his last 11 games.

Scott Wilson scored for Pittsburgh as the Penguins fell short again after a 3-2 loss at Dallas on Tuesday night. It was the first meeting this season between the last two Stanley Cup winners.

Darling started a second straight game in place of Corey Crawford, the No. 1 goalie who has been fighting an illness. Crawford said he felt much better following Wednesday’s morning skate and was on the bench to back up Darling.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 25 shots for Pittsburgh in his first start in two weeks.

Chicago center Artem Anisimov left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury.

Defenseman Johnny Oduya, re-acquired by the Blackhawks from Dallas on Tuesday night, arrived at the United Center a few hours before Wednesday’s game but didn’t play. LIGHTNING 4, HURRICANES 3>> Victor Hedman scored his second goal of the game 46 seconds into overtime, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves and Tampa Bay beat Carolina.

Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov also scored to help the Lightning improve to 7-1-2 in the last 10 games.

Noah Hanifin, Derek Ryan and Jay McClement scored for Carolina, and Eddie Lack stopped 12 shots. The Hurricanes are 1-5-3 in their last nine.

Hedman lifted a shot over Lack during the extra session. Kucherov got his second assist on the play, and has 12 points over the last four games.

Kucherov gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead at 15:18 of the third.