Blackhawks rally to edge Predators, remain in race
Brandon Hagel scored 3:00 into overtime, and the Chicago Blackhawks rallied to beat the Nashville Predators 5-4 on Wednesday night.
Hagel also had two assists as Chicago beat Nashville for the first time in seven games this season. Pius Suter and Vinnie Hinostroza each had a goal and an assist, and Malcolm Subban made 35 saves.
“That’s a comeback,” Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said. “We put ourselves in a pretty big hole, stuck with it, never gave up.”
The Blackhawks trailed 4-1 after Luke Kunin scored 58 seconds into the third. But Hagel closed it out for Chicago when he beat Juuse Saros for his seventh of the season.
The unlikely victory boosted Chicago’s slim playoff hopes in the Central Division. Nashville holds the fourth and last playoff spot with 52 points. Dallas is fifth with 50 points, and Chicago has 49 points.
“I just wish there were fans here to see it,” Subban said. “An unbelievable overtime goal.”
“I picked up some speed, he gave it to me and I cut back and gave it back to him,” Hinostroza said of Hagel’s overtime winner.
Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist for the Predators, who face the Blackhawks again on Friday night. Eeli Tolvanen and Colton Sissons also scored, and Saros finished with 25 stops.
“We made three mistakes and they scored,” Tolvanen said. “We have to take the positive from this, try to forget the negatives.”
Chicago scored three times in 2:51 to erase Nashville’s lead in the third.
Rookie Wyatt Kalynuk took a perfect pass from Patrick Kane and beat Saros from the left slot to make it 4-2 midway through the period. Hinostroza cut the gap to 4-3 with a drive from the slot at 11:13.
Nashville called timeout, but failed to stop Chicago’s momentum. Chicago’s Dominik Kubalik made it 4-all at 12:55, converting Suter’s pass from behind the net.
It was a complete turnaround from most of the first 49 minutes.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, SHARKS 2» Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and Vegas won its eighth straight.
Vegas, which leads the NHL with 33 wins and 68 points, became the first team in the NHL to clinch a playoff berth.
The Golden Knights improved to 15-1-3 all-time against the Sharks in regular-season meetings — including a perfect 7-0-0 this season. Vegas also improved to 18-4-2 at home this season.
Mark Stone Alex Tuch, and Mattias Janmark also scored for Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves to improve to 5-0-0 against the Sharks this season and 7-0-1 in his last eight.
After Patrick Marleau appeared in his recordbreaking 1,768th career NHL game to pass Gordie Howe for all-time games played, he skated in his 900th consecutive game, becoming the fourth player ever to do so.
WILD 4, COYOTES » Kirill Kiprizov scored a dazzling goal to break a franchise rookie record, Cam Talbot stopped 39 shots and Minnesota stretched its winning streak to five games.
The Wild withstood a big initial flurry by Arizona and an early goal by Christian Dvorak in a tight-checking game. Kevin Fiala and Marcus Foligno each scored to put the Wild up, then Kiprizov deked goalie Darcy Kuemper out of the crease and scored on a wraparound.
It was Kiprizov’s 19th goal, breaking Marian Gaborik’s rookie record.
Talbot made some big saves down the stretch, and Nico Sturm added an empty-net goal to give Minnesota a 16-point cushion over the Coyotes for third in the West Division.
The Coyotes dominated early, but couldn’t get anything else past Talbot in losing for the seventh time in eight games. CANADIENS 4, OILERS 3 » Josh Anderson scored twice and Montreal held off Edmonton despite a three-point night from Connor McDavid.
Montreal, with the win, moved eight points clear of Calgary for fourth place and the final playoff spot in the North.