Comments (...)(MCT) — COLUMBUS, Ohio — End to end they raced during the five-minute overtime Thursday night, Sergei Bobrovsky stopping everything the Blackhawks could throw at him and Corey Crawford denying the Blue Jackets’ every opportunity.
When the combined 13 shots in the extra period weren’t enough to decide things, Patrick Kane slowed everything down and potted the game-winner in the shootout as the Hawks came away with a 2-1 victory over the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
Kane’s shootout winner, during which he screeched to a near-halt before lifting a backhander past Bobrovsky, helped the Hawks snap a two-game skid and improve to 22-2-3 on the season.
“It was pretty intense,” Kane said of the overtime when the Hawks had six shots but couldn’t solve Bobrovsky. “The goalies made some great saves.
“It’s a way better feeling in here when we win. That team has been playing really well lately. It’s their ninth straight they had a point in. It was a good fight for us, a tight-checking game. For us to come out and get a win is big for the confidence.”
Johnny Oduya scored in regulation and Crawford finished with 29 saves throughout regulation and overtime — and had two more in the shootout — as the Hawks kicked off a four-game trip successfully.
“At the end of the game the play started going back and forth and continued in the shootout,” Crawford said. “Our guys were able to bear down and score two there for me (Jonathan Toews first), which was nice.”
Early in the second, the Hawks — and Oduya — finally broke through when the defenseman notched his first goal of the season. He took a nifty pass from Kane, advanced toward the net and rifled a shot over Bobrovsky’s left shoulder.
With the Hawks short-handed, the Blue Jackets wasted little time in tying it 1-1 when Jack Johnson unloaded a slap shot that beat Crawford to the glove side 52 seconds later and sent the game into the second intermission even. After a hard-paced third, it went into overtime.
“It was a good win — it was a hard game,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We got better as the game went on. I like how we got back on track (Thursday night). Finding ways to get points again was important for us.”
After a three-day break following a stretch of seven games in 11 nights, the Hawks appeared refreshed.
“Being away and not even thinking about hockey for a couple of days was healthy for us,” Quenneville said.
That it was.
“It feels good to get back winning,” Oduya said. “The start to the first period was a little bit slow maybe but we picked it up and in the second and third we took over. It was a good goalie game overall (and) we got the extra point in the end.”
