PITTSBURGH, Pa. - With a couple of flicks of the wrist, the Chicago Blackhawks headed into the NHL All-Star break with momentum.Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane beat Marc-Andre Fleury in a shootout to lift the Blackhawks to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.Chicago improved to 8-2 in games decided after regulation when Toews beat Fleury between the legs, and Kane followed with a wrist shot the goalie watched sail by his blocker.We have great confidence, Toews said. Our goaltender can make stops and we have shooters who like to be in that situation. We like our odds given the circumstance.The Blackhawks also regained swagger following a pair of decisive home losses to Winnipeg and Dallas. Chicago thumped Arizona 6-1 on Tuesday and backed it up by surviving a game effort from the undermanned Penguins to win in Pittsburgh for only the second time since 1997.Even if things arent going so well, were good at taking responsibility for it and not dragging our feet around and dwelling on what were not doing or whats not going our way, Toews said. We just find ways that we can make things better, and we showed an example of that in the last two games.David Rundblad and Marian Hossa scored in regulation for Chicago. Corey Crawford made 33 saves and held Pittsburghs David Perron and Sidney Crosby in check in the shootout.It was a tough game, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. You find when you win these types of games, it makes you a good team.Zach Sill scored his first NHL goal and Steve Downie added his eighth of the season for the Penguins. Fleury stopped 24 shots but Pittsburgh hobbled into the break with a fourth straight loss, among them a bruising overtime defeat in Philadelphia on Tuesday that included injuries to stars Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin.Letang was held out as a precaution following a frightening collision with Philadelphias Zac Rinaldo. Malkin skated during warm-ups on Wednesday before telling trainers he couldnt play due to an undisclosed issue. Malkins status for All-Star weekend is uncertain.The absence of two vital parts of Pittsburghs core took some of the punch out of the game both teams hope is a Stanley Cup preview, though neither has looked like a top-flight contender the last month.Pittsburgh has cooled to fall just off the pace of the first-place New York Islanders in the crowded Metropolitan Division. Chicago trails surprising Nashville and steady St. Louis in the Central.Rundblad gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead 6:56 in. The defenceman took advantage of a dominant shift by the top line of Hossa, Toews and Brandon Saad. The trio kept the puck buried in Pittsburghs zone for more than a minute, with Rundblad taking a feed from Hossa at the point and sending a shot past a well-screened Fleury for his fourth goal.Hossa doubled Chicagos lead early in the second with his 10th goal, a wrist shot from just inside the left circle that Fleury barely saw through the sea of bodies. Yet just when it appeared the Penguins were ready to collapse, they responded behind some unlikely contributors.Sill went 47 games before recording the first point of his career with an assist against Minnesota last week. He didnt wait nearly as long to earn his second, sending a wrist shot from the slot over Crawfords glove 5:21 into the second.The fourth-line forward nearly smacked a Chicago player in the head with his stick during a giddy celebration, one that provided the spark necessary to wake the Penguins from a weeklong swoon.Downie tied it at 12:22 of the second, stuffing a rebound past a sprawled Crawford for his first goal since Jan. 2. That set up an electric back-and-forth third period that played in stark contrast to Pittsburghs penalty-filled meeting with the Flyers the night before.When weve been short players, really short players we seem to be able to pick it up, coach Mike Johnston said. We need to be able to do that when we have everybody in the lineup. ... Our depth really stepped it up.NOTES: The Penguins host Winnipeg next Tuesday but will play 21 of their final 36 games on the road. ... The Blackhawks face a difficult six-game trip after the break, starting next Wednesday at Los Angeles. ... The game was stopped twice in the first period due to a clock malfunction. One delay lasted nearly five minutes. ... The Blackhawks went 1 for 2 on the power play. The Penguins were 0 for 2. ... Philadelphia general manager Ron Hextall said Rinaldo feels horrible about his illegal check on Letang. Rinaldo will have a teleconference with the NHLs Department of Player Safety on Monday. Jaromir Jagr Jersey . Anything less than gold for either nation is considered a disappointment. Yet for Switzerland, advancing to the semifinal might be a victory in itself. Radko Gudas Jersey . McCutchen was cut before the series opener against Seattle on Monday night, when Lewis was set for his first start for Texas since July 18, 2012. Texas selected Lewis contract from Triple-A Round Rock. http://www.nhlflyersproauthentic.com/jak...key-jersey/.com) - Quarterback Cardale Jones will return to Ohio State next season. Sam Gagner Jersey . - Andre Drummond had his best night on the boards. Brian Propp Jersey . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends.RALEIGH, N.C. -- When the Boston Bruins take a two-goal lead, they can pretty much count on skating off with a win. The Bruins surged ahead early against the Carolina Hurricanes and then relied on their penalty-killers to earn a 4-1 victory on Monday night. Beginning with its 2010-11 Stanley Cup championship season, Boston is 100-6-6 in games it has taken a two-goal lead. It took the Bruins about 10 minutes to establish the margin against Carolina, which had won five of seven in the series. Boston killed four Carolina penalties, including 63 seconds when down two skaters, to extend its streak of consecutive penalty kills to 32. "Its commitment," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "Most of all, were winning battles. Were doing a good job of standing teams up." That wasnt the case in late October when Boston allowed goals on five consecutive power plays. "We were really awful on the (penalty kill), which is really unusual for us," said Tuukka Rask, who made 23 saves. "We wanted to go back to basics, killing one penalty at a time." Reilly Smith and Carl Soderberg had a goal and an assist each in the first period. Johnny Boychuk scored midway through the third, and Milan Lucic added an empty-net goal for Boston, which has 11 points in seven games (5-1-1). Carolinas Tuomo Ruutu scored his first goal of the season with 4.8 seconds left in the opening period, but Boston didnt waver. "That was impressive for me that we kept our composure despite that one," Julien said. Bostons penalty-killing unit was especially effective in the second period, when it worked morre than a minute of the Hurricanes 5-on-3 advantage after penalties to Boychuk and Gregory Campbell.ddddddddddddThe Bruins also killed a third-period penalty while leading 2-1. Carolina has scored only one goal in its last 21 power plays. The Hurricanes played their first game since Oct. 24 with Cam Ward in net. Ward, who missed 10 games because of a leg injury, made 26 saves. He rebounded from a rough start in which he gave up two goals on Bostons first four shots. "I thought Cam competed hard," Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. "He started off (with) two that werent easy to make saves on. After that, he hung in there." Smith gave Boston the lead with a power-play goal 2:31 into the game. Loui Eriksson passed to Soderberg, who found Smith in front for a one-timer that got past Ward for his third goal. Soderberg redirected a shot by defenceman Dennis Seidenberg to put Boston ahead 2-0 midway through the first period. The Hurricanes netted their only goal when a pass from Eric Staal went off the skate of Bostons Patrice Bergeron and caromed to Ruutu, who nudged the puck past Rask. NOTES: With Ward activated from the injured list, the Hurricanes reassigned goalie Mike Murphy to Charlotte (AHL). ... Ward is 12-12-2 against Boston in 26 games. ... Carolina centre Jordan Staal played in his 500th NHL game. ... Bostons Eriksson extended his point streak to six games with an assist on Smiths goal. ... Boston defenceman Adam McQuaid missed his fourth consecutive game. ... The teams will meet again Saturday in Boston. ... The announced attendance was 13,919. White NFL Jerseys Cheap Youth NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys 2020 Stitched NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Autographed Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Discount Jerseys ' ' '
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