The Chicago Blackhawks got two more goals out of Marian Hossa on Wednesday night, but it wasn’t enough as Daniel Sedin’s overtime goal handed the Vancouver Canucks a 5-4 victory.
Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith also scored for the Hawks, but it wasn’t enough as they failed to score the second standings point for the second consecutive game.
The contest started out with the Blackhawks getting some really good scoring chances, but things quickly went south as both teams struggled to hold onto the puck. Kane had a breakaway late in the period after a turnover forced by the Hawks’ defense, but Eddie Lack made the save to keep things scoreless at the end of the first period.
Within the first minute of the second period, the Blackhawks’ quickly got on the board. Kane was the beneficiary of some serious puck luck, as his pass toward Brad Richards was deflected into the goal by Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead.
Just a few minutes later, the Canucks ended up tying things up at 1-1. Michal Rozsival abandoned the zone before the Blackhawks secured the puck, and after some tape-to-tape passes Chris Higgins found Linden Vey in the slot, and he forced a shot past Crawford to kill the Blackhawks’ momentum.
Two minutes later, the Canucks scored again to take the lead. This time it was David Rundblad making the questionable play, knocking the puck away from Crawford as he tried to cover it in the blue paint. The Canucks eventually got the puck back, and it worked its way toward Bo Horvat, who then rifled in a shot to make it a 2-1 game.
The Blackhawks continued to struggle in the middle stages of the period, and the Canucks were able to take advantage and score again. Luca Sbisa got the puck out at the point for Vancouver, and as his shot travelled toward the net Zack Kassian was able to get his stick on the puck and deflect it in past Crawford to make it a 3-1 game.
The chances continued to be few and far between as the Hawks couldn’t move the puck effectively, but they did get two chances late in the period. Both Andrew Shaw and Kris Versteeg had chances in the final minute, but Lack was able to stand tall in the crease as Vancouver maintained their two-goal lead after two periods.
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As the teams came out for the third period, the Blackhawks skated with a newly found urgency, and it eventually led to them scoring a goal about nine minutes in. After some sharp passing on the power play, the puck eventually found its way to Jonathan Toews. His shot was blocked down in front of the net, but Hossa was able to collect it and fire it past Lack to make it a 3-2 game.
With a little bit less than five minutes remaining however, the Blackhawks coughed up a key insurance goal to Vancouver. Henrik Sedin got in behind the defense, but he was corralled by Rundblad on the rush. The Hawks were unable to clear the puck however, and ultimately Daniel Sedin got the puck and fired it past Crawford to make it 4-2 with about four and a half minutes to go.
With two minutes left in the contest, the Blackhawks did score a power play to make it a one-goal game again. Duncan Keith was skating across the top of the point on the man-advantage, and his shot bounced off of Alex Edler in front and skipped over Lack to get the Hawks within a goal at 4-3.
The Blackhawks then tied the game up with less than a minute remaining. Hossa was the main man on the goal, driving past the defense and squeezing a quick shot through Lack’s pads to tie things up at 4-4 and force overtime.
Unfortunately for the Blackhawks, they couldn’t complete the comeback in the extra frame. After a lengthy possession in the offensive zone, Henrik Sedin found his twin brother Daniel in front of the net, and he one-timed a shot just past Crawford’s right pad and gave the Canucks the victory.
The Hawks will try once again for their first victory of their homestand when they take on the New Jersey Devils on Friday night.
