Blackhawks, Blues Pick Up NHL Victories

By ESPN

The first period was one of Chicago's best all season, but it gave way to a penalty-ridden second. Through it all, the Blackhawks found a cure for their ailing power play and stopped a three-game slide.

Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist, Duncan Keith added two assists and the Blackhawks defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-3 on Thursday night.

Chicago led twice by three goals but yielded three in the second period and had to hold on. Ryan Hartman, Marian Hossa and Artemi Panarin also scored for the Blackhawks.

Christian Dvorak and Brendan Perlini each had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes. Oliver Ekman-Larsson also scored for Arizona.

The Blackhawks scored twice in 72 seconds during the first period, their initial goal coming 15 seconds into a power play. Kane's left-handed shot pinged off the crossbar and down into the cage at 8:44.

Hartman made it 2-0 at the 9:56 mark, his long shot zipping through several players in front and past Arizona goalie Mike Smith.

"One of our best periods in a long time," Hossa said. "It's nice to have a few power-play goals to be able to give us some confidence."

Smith finished with 22 saves, but several kept the Coyotes in the game. Corey Crawford turned aside 24 shots for Chicago.

The Blackhawks, who entered with one goal on their last 20 power plays, scored on the man advantage again at 14:15. Hossa, stopped by Smith on a breakaway early in the game, zoomed past defender Alex Goligoski and fired in on the move for a 3-0 lead.

Hossa's 19 goals lead the Blackhawks this season.

"Power play did some nice things. Great shot by Kaner, showed some speed in the middle, did some good things in the zone as well," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "Nice to get that going. That really helped us get off to such a great start in the game."

Many in the sellout crowd of 17,125 wore Blackhawks jerseys. Coyotes fans finally got their chance to cheer when defenseman Luke Schenn and Chicago's Andrew Desjardins threw punches late in the period.

Schenn got the better of the fight, leaving Desjardins bloodied, but took the worst of the punishment as far as penalty minutes. Schenn was handed seven minutes for fighting and instigating, and a 10-minute misconduct.

Two quick penalties nine seconds apart to start the second period gave the Coyotes a 5-on-3 power play, and Ekman-Larsson scored off a pass from Radim Vrbata to cut the Blackhawks' lead to 3-1. Arizona has scored in the second period of six straight games.

Panarin made it 4-1 at 5:24 with his 18th goal of the season. Kane helped set it up when he fought for a loose puck, and was credited with an assist.

The Coyotes benefited from 10 second-period minutes in penalties against the Blackhawks and made it 4-2 at 14:24 when Dvorak got a deflection of Shane Doan's shot past Crawford. Perlini scored at 15:51 to cut the margin to one, and the Blackhawks had to kill what started as a 5-on-3 disadvantage in the closing minutes of the period.

Crawford did the splits to block a try from Alex Burmistrov during that Coyotes power play.

"There's lots of try there. I'd just like to see our execution a little better, a little less thinking about the game and a little more doing in the game early," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said.

Arizona pulled Smith for an extra attacker with 1:25 to play, but couldn't come up with a tying goal.

"I liked how we stabilized the game in the third period," Quenneville said.

Blues 5, Maple Leafs 1

Jake Allen hopes he's put his struggles behind him.

The St. Louis goalie stopped 26 shots and Paul Stastny scored twice to help the Blues beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 on Thursday night.

Allen won for the first time since Jan. 2, when the Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 in the Winter Classic. He had been pulled in four of his previous five starts.

"I felt good, another step for me," Allen said. "It was a really tough time for me. But hopefully, that's in the past, Hopefully, I've got more to give."

Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen and Colton Parayko also scored for St. Louis, which had lost five of its previous six.

Mike Yeo won in his first game as Blues coach, a day after he replaced the fired Ken Hitchcock.

Allen came up big in the first period with stops on Connor Brown and James van Riemsdyk.

"I really felt that Jake was going to have a strong game," Yeo said. "I thought he was outstanding, a real difference-maker in the first period."

Stastny and Tarasenko scored 35 seconds apart in the second period to break a 1-1 tie.

It was the second two-goal game of the season for Stastny, who said the club was anxious to win for its new coach.

"A new kind of sense of urgency, a new life," Stastny said. "We just wanted to have a better attitude than we've had in the past."

Yeo was hired in the offseason as the associate coach and was scheduled to replace Hitchcock next season. He was rewarded for the victory with a memento -- and a little good-natured kidding from his players.

"I got a puck," Yeo said. "The guys also criticized my tie. I thought it was pretty good. I guess it's not."

Mitchell Marner scored for Toronto, which fell to 1/3 on its season-high six-game road trip.

"They were just better than us," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "They were faster and more determined."

St. Louis, which broke a four-game home losing streak, scored three goals in a span of 4:35 in the second period.

Stastny converted from in front of the net off a pass from Steen for a 2-1 lead. Tarasenko, who leads the team with 23 goals, tallied on a wrist shot from the slot seconds later.

Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen gave up five goals on 31 shots. He was lifted from Tuesday's 6-3 loss at Dallas after surrendering three goals on eight shots in 11:12.

Marner scored his 13th of the season late in the first period for a 1-0 lead.

"They took it to us in that second period and we had trouble getting our feet back," Marner said. "When we get the lead, we've got to stick with the game plan and play the way we want to."

Game notes
The Blues retired the No. 5 sweater worn by D Bob Plager in a 64-minute ceremony before the game. Plager has been part of the organization since its inception in 1967. It was the seventh jersey retired by the team. ... Tarasenko has scored in four consecutive games against Toronto. ... Maple Leafs D Morgan Rielly returned to the lineup after missing six games with an ankle injury.

Thursday, February 2 Scoreboard

Philadelphia 3, Montreal 1

New York Rangers 2, Buffalo 1 (OT)

Ottawa 5, Tampa Bay 2

Nashville 2, Edmonton 0

Winnipeg 4, Dallas 3

St. Louis 5, Toronto 1

Chicago 4, Arizona 3

San Jose 4, Vancouver 1

Friday, February 3 Schedule (All Times Central)

Columbus at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

New York Islanders at Detroit, 6:30 p.m.

Anaheim at Florida, 6:30 p.m.

Calgary at New Jersey, 6:30 p.m.

Edmonton at Carolina, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 4 Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at Montreal, noon

Los  Angeles at Philadelphia, noon

Winnipeg at Colorado, 2 p.m.

Toronto at Boston, 6 p.m.

Ottawa at Buffalo, 6 p.m.

Anaheim at Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.

Carolina at New York Islanders, 6 p.m.

New Jersey at Columbus, 6 p.m.

Pittsburgh at St. Louis, 7 p.m.

Detroit at Nashville, 7 p.m.

Chicago at Dallas, 7 p.m.

Minnesota at Vancouver, 9 p.m.

Arizona at San Jose, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, February 5 Schedule (All Times Central)

Los Angeles at Washington, 11 a.m.

Edmonton at Montreal, noon

Calgary at New York Rangers, 1 p.m.