Blackhawks overwhelm short-handed Penguins
PITTSBURGH >> Artemi Panarin and Richard Panik started a fourgoal first period for Chicago, and the Blackhawks moved closer to locking up the Central Division title with a 5-1 victory over the short-handed Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.
Marcus Kruger and Marian Hossa also scored during an explosive first period as the Blackhawks moved nine points clear of second-place Minnesota with five games left in the regular season. Tanner Nero added a breakaway goal in the third. Patrick Kane picked up two assists to move past Sidney Crosby and into second place in the NHL scoring race.
Corey Crawford stopped 31 shots for Chicago, which beat the Penguins in regulation on the road for the first time since 1997.
Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 31 saves but received little help outside of Bryan Rust’s thirdperiod goal. The defending Stanley Cup champions saw their winless streak reach four games, and their chances to catch first-place Washington atop the Metropolitan Division took another hit.
Pittsburgh is struggling with the playoffs two weeks away while missing injured regulars Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Ron Hainsey, Jake Guentzel and Carl Hagelin. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks are surging.
Chicago overwhelmed the Penguins seemingly from the opening faceoff, showcasing all the speed and creativity that have the Blackhawks looking like the best team in the Western Conference and a serious threat to add to the three Cups they’ve captured since 2010.
The Penguins started Fleury over Matt Murray, who has struggled recently while Fleury has regained his form since the team opted to hold onto him at the trading deadline. Given a chance to perhaps make serious inroads on Murray’s grasp of the No. 1 spot, Fleury instead spent the opening 20 minutes trying to contend with a seemingly endless series of odd-man rushes that left the Penguins flat-footed and the Blackhawks rolling.
Panarin opened the scoring 3:23 in when he banked in a shot from in close off Fleury’s right leg. The goal was the easy part. The hard part came courtesy of Kane, who darted behind the Pittsburgh net preparing to attempt a wraparound only to drop a backhand pass to Panarin at the left post. Fleury, believing Kane still had the puck, was caught looking the other way while Panarin executed the hockey version of a lay-up, gently flipping it off Fleury and into the net.
NHL will release teams’ expansion draft lists
NEW YORK >> After further consideration, the NHL will release teams’ protected and available lists to the public before the Vegas Golden Knights’ expansion draft in June.
The league announced the decision on Twitter on Wednesday despite NHL general managers expressing a desire to keep the lists private. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said there was more internal discussion at the league office and that none of the GMs expressed strong views on the subject.
All 30 existing teams must submit their list of protected players by 5 p.m. June 17. Vegas must submit its selections by 5 p.m. June 20, with the announcement of those picks made June 21.
The league said the timing of the lists being released was still to be determined. Each team can protect either seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender or eight skaters of any position and one goaltender.
The Golden Knights begin play next season.