Brad Richards broke a scoreless deadlock 7 minutes, 19 seconds into the third period, and the Chicago Blackhawks cooled off goalie Cam Talbot and the surging New York Rangers 1-0 on Wednesday night.
Right after Rangers defenseman Dan Boyle rang a shot off the crossbar behind Blackhawks backup goalie Scott Darling, Richards got the puck in front of the New York net, waited patiently and snapped a shot past Talbot for his 11th goal.
The Blackhawks stretched their winning streak to four and snapped the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers’ winning run at five games.
Photo: AFP
Richards, a member of the Rangers last season, has five career goals against New York. That was enough to make a winner of Darling, who played for just the third time since Dec. 13. He made 25 saves to improve to 7-3 and earn his first NHL shutout in 10 career games.
DUCKS 3, KINGS 2, OT
In Anaheim, California, Ryan Kesler scored 45 seconds into overtime as the Anaheim Ducks rallied from another third-period deficit in the final Freeway Faceoff meeting of the regular season.
Patrick Maroon and Jakob Silfverberg scored third-period goals for the Ducks, who took four of five in this lively rivalry.
John Gibson made 29 saves as Anaheim took sole possession of the overall NHL lead with 97 points after rallying for its NHL-best 12th comeback victory when trailing after two periods this season.
Justin Williams scored the tying goal with 4:18 left for the Kings, who still took sole possession of third place in the Pacific Division.
The defending Stanley Cup champions have earned points in seven of eight games down the stretch.
BLUE JACKETS 4, OILERS 3, SO
In Edmonton, Canada, Alexander Wennberg scored the shootout winner as the Blue Jackets beat the Oilers.
David Savard, Ryan Johansen and Mark Letestu scored in regulation for the Blue Jackets (31-35-4), who have won four of their past five.
Derek Roy, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov had goals for the Oilers (19-39-13), who have lost eight of their past nine games.
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