EditorsNote: rewords fifth graf, adds new last graf
Patrick Kane and Dylan Strome each had a goal and two assists, Kirby Dach had one goal and one assist, and Corey Crawford stopped 39 of 42 shots to lift the Chicago Blackhawks past the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3 in Las Vegas on Wednesday night.
Zack Smith and Alex DeBrincat had two assists each, and Calvin de Haan and Erik Gustafsson scored 45 seconds apart in the second period as Chicago tallied five consecutive goals after facing an early two-goal deficit. The Blackhawks improved to 4-1-1 in their past six games while earning the franchise's first victory against the Golden Knights in eight tries.
Vegas fell to 0-3-1 in its past four games and has lost seven of nine (2-4-3).
Aiming to break out of their recent funk, the Golden Knights surged to a 2-0 lead just 6:29 into the game. William Carrier opened the scoring with 17:02 remaining in the first period before William Karlsson added to the advantage with a power-play goal 3:31 later.
Kane trimmed the deficit to 2-1 with 13:15 remaining in the first period, whipping a one-timer pass from Strome past Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to extend his points streak to seven games. Kane has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) during the run.
Vegas' Nate Schmidt closed the scoring with a minute left in regulation. Karlsson had an assist on the goal.
Vegas was 1-for-2 on the power play compared to 0-for-1 for Chicago. The Golden Knights outshot the Blackhawks 42-26.
Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch returned to the lineup after missing the club's four-game road trip with an upper-body injury he sustained during a Nov. 2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Tuch notched the secondary assist on the Karlsson goal and had a goal taken away on video review as he looks to build traction in the first half of the season.
Tuch missed Vegas' first 13 games with an upper-body injury that sidelined him late in the preseason.
Both teams missed opportunities to capitalize on penalty shots. The Blackhawks' Smith hit the crossbar on his first-period attempt, while Vegas' Jonathan Marchessault partially fanned on his shot in the second period.
Fleury finished with 21 saves.
--Field Level Media
