Panik’s power-play goal lifts ’Hawks
OTTAWA, Ontario — Richard Panik’s power-play goal late in the third period propelled the Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the Senators.
Panik scored from the lower left circle 16 minutes, 59 seconds into the period off a feed from Patrick Kane, who sent the assist from behind the net. It was Panik’s 18th goal of the season.
The Hawks also extended their lead in the Central Division to three points over the Wild.
Scoring was hard to come by for most of the night until a Duncan Keith slap shot from the point trickled through the pads of Senators goaltender Mike Condon 8 minutes, 4 seconds into the third period.
The Seantors responded with a powerplay goal from Kyle Turris at 11:23 before Panik put the Hawks ahead for good.
But the story of the night was the goaltending of Scott Darling, who was back in net for the Hawks after he suffered an upper-body injury on March 3. Coach Joel Quenneville said there was nothing wrong physically with Corey Crawford, Quenneville just wanted to get Darling a start and Darling responded with 33 saves against his friend Condon, who had 26 saves.
Bryan Little scored twice, Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves and Winnipeg topped New York to snap a four-game skid. Mathieu Perreault and Adam Lowry also scored for the rested Jets, who had their game Tuesday in Newark, New Jersey, against the Devils postponed because of a snowstorm.
Victor Rask scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:24 to play. Teuvo Teravainen added an empty-net goal with 1:24 remaining.
Viktor Arvidsson scored 1:05 into overtime and Nashville bucked its season-long trend of OT struggles by beating Washington. Arvidsson’s goal improved the Predators to 4-7 in the 3-on-3 period this season and 7-19 over the past two years.
Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall scored two goals apiece and New Jersey snapped a 10-game winless streak. Kyle Palmieri and Joseph Blandisi also scored as New Jersey set a season-high for goals and ended an 0-8-2 streak.
Morgan Rielly and Matt Martin scored 15 seconds apart during Toronto’s four-goal second period, Frederik Andersen made 33 saves and the Maple Leafs moved into the lead for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Patrick Maroon scored twice, Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists and Connor McDavid added three assists as the Edmonton Oilers beat up on the Boston Bruins. Benoit Pouliot, Anton Slepyshev, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Milan Lucic also scored for the Oilers, who moved one point ahead of Calgary for third place in the Pacific Division.