Rookie center Kirby Dach scored twice and goaltender Corey Crawford stopped 33 of 34 shots to lead the host Chicago Blackhawks past the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 on Sunday night for their fourth straight victory.
The Blackhawks improved to 6-1-1 in their past eight games while the Sabres fell to 1-5-2 over the same span. Buffalo outshot Chicago 34-27 but couldn't capitalize against Crawford, who is 11-0 in his career against the Sabres.
Skating down the left side, Dach sped past former Blackhawks defenseman Henri Jokiharju and whipped a backhand shot that deflected off Buffalo forward Jack Eichel and into the net at 15:43 of the first period to open the scoring.
Another Dach backhander got past Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton at 12:32 of the second. Moving toward the right face-off circle, Dach collected a pass from Zack Smith and snuck past a defender before beating Hutton stick side.
Patrick Kane extended his points streak to nine games with an unassisted power-play tally at 3:42 of the third period, his club-leading 11th goal of the season. Jonathan Toews added another unassisted goal 5:15 later before Eichel put Buffalo on the board by scoring unassisted off a turnover at 9:39 of the third.
Eichel scored all four goals in Buffalo's home victory against Ottawa on Saturday night.
Dach, meanwhile, extended his points streak to four games. He has four goals and two assists during that span. Dach is the fourth Blackhawks player to record a point streak of at least four games at age 18.
Hutton made his 200th career NHL start. The eight-year veteran started his first game during the 2012-13 season as a member of the Blackhawks.
Chicago went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Buffalo was 0-for-4.
Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith contributed a likely goal-saving play midway through the second period. An Andrew Shaw giveaway with a Chicago power play in its waning moments gave the Sabres a 2-on-1, but Keith sprawled to stop any shot attempt.
--Field Level Media
