Kane helps Blackhawks to 5-2 win over Avs

Brent Seabrook has never played better defense than he is right now. And that's powering his recent offensive surge.

Or so goes the reasoning of Chicago coach Joel Quenneville, who praised his defenseman after another rock-solid performance on both ends of the ice.

Seabrook's power-play goal broke a second-period tie, Patrick Kane Jersey scored twice and the Central Division-leading Blackhawks beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Saturday night.

Over his last five games, Seabrook now has six points (two goals and four assists). His goal against Colorado was a pinpoint shot into the upper corner of the net.

Just where he was aiming, right?

"Shot it as hard as I could and hoped I didn't hit anybody," Seabrook said, smiling.

Moments after scoring, Seabrook turned in a nifty defensive play. With Matt Duchene racing down the ice on a breakaway, Seabrook caught up to him, lifted the speedy forward's stick and poked the puck away.

"(Seabrook) was probably the one guy who turned it around," said Quenneville, whose team flew in Saturday morning after a break for the holiday. "I think the offense is coming because he's been defending so well."

Brandon Saad Jersey also scored for the Blackhawks, while Patrick Sharp celebrated his 33rd birthday with a game-sealing power-play goal in the third period.

"He's getting old, but he can still score some goals," Seabrook cracked.

Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Johnson had goals for the Avalanche as their three-game win streak was snapped.

This is the second time Chicago has beaten Colorado at Pepsi Center this year after going 0-2 in the building last season.

Corey Crawford Jersey stopped 11 of his 23 shots in the third period, none bigger than the one he made with the Avalanche on a 5-on-3 power play. He turned back a point-blank shot to help the Blackhawks successfully dodge both penalties.

The Avalanche pulled goaltender Calvin Pickard with just over 2 minutes remaining, but couldn't generate much offense against Chicago's stingy defense. Instead, it was Kane who scored when he easily tapped the puck into the net with 5.4 seconds remaining. The Blackhawks are now 12-2 this season when Kane scores.

"We didn't play a bad hockey game," Duchene said. "We played hard. They are a playoff hockey team. ... I think there were a lot of good things in our game."

Pickard stopped 28 shots in what might have been his final start before being sent back to Lake Erie of the American Hockey League. Pickard has been filling in for Semyon Varlamov as the Russian goaltender recovers from a nagging groin injury.

With Varlamov's return — he blanked the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday — the Avalanche are reluctant to relegate Pickard to a backup role even if he possessed the second-best save percentage in the league entering the game. Colorado coach Patrick Roy would much rather see the 22-year-old Pickard stay in a groove by playing every night in the minors.

Roy said he may wait a few days before making a decision on Pickard, just to make sure Varlamov is completely healthy.

Seabrook scored his seventh goal of the season on a power play in the second period, giving the Blackhawks a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Colorado got on the board early in the game when MacKinnon scored his first goal since Nov. 13. The lead didn't last long as Saad answered 31 seconds later with a wrist shot through traffic.

Johnson gave the Avalanche another lead with a goal in his fourth-straight game. Once again, the Blackhawks Jersey responded, when Duncan Keith sent a pass through the legs of defenseman Brad Stuart that Kane tipped into the net.

Pickard has earned high praise from Roy and his teammates with his play. He set an Avalanche rookie record with 47 saves in a 1-0 overtime loss at Pittsburgh on Dec. 18.

"You don't see a goalie his age play the way he has," Johnson said.

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Perreault Scores Twice as Jets Blow Out Blackhawks

The Winnipeg Jets came into Tuesday’s game against the Custom Blackhawks Jersey down their top four defensemen, but their offense more than made up for the absences as they blew out the Hawks by a score of 5-1 at the United Center.

Mathieu Perreault led the Jets with two goals in the game as they sent the Hawks into their Christmas break on a down note. Marian Hossa had the lone tally of the day for the Blackhawks, and Corey Crawford was pulled after surrendering three first period goals.

The game got off to a flying start as both teams tried to establish a fast tone early on. Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews Jersey each had shots early, but Michael Hutchinson shut down both chances. Evander Kane got a chance at the other end of the ice for Winnipeg, but Corey Crawford made a nifty glove save to keep the game scoreless.

Slowly but surely, the Jets continued to gather momentum, and about nine minutes into the game they seized the lead. Michael Frolik drove into the zone in between two Hawks defenders, and he tapped a pass backwards to Perreault. The forward then ripped a shot past Crawford to give Winnipeg an early 1-0 advantage.

The Jets continued their assault over the next few minutes, and they scored again as a result. This time it was Bryan Little doing the honors, grabbing a pass from Andrew Ladd and wristing a shot off of Johnny Oduya’s stick and just under the crossbar to make it a 2-0 game.

A little over two minutes later, the Jets scored again. Anthony Peluso scored his first goal of the season as Crawford failed to cover the puck next to the net, and Peluso dragged the puck across and flipped it in to give the Jets a three-goal lead.

Early in the second period, the Blackhawks Winter Classic Jersey tried to stage a comeback, but Hutchinson continued his solid play in net. Michal Rozsival had the big chance early on as he tried to redirect a pass from Kris Versteeg, but it skipped just wide of the net. Bickell also had a chance just in front of the net, but Hutchinson covered the puck up before the big winger could get his stick blade into the blue paint.

The missed opportunities came back to haunt the Hawks a few minutes later as the Jets extended their lead. Blake Wheeler made a decent screen in front of Antti Raanta near the front of the net, and Perreault took advantage as he fired home a high, hard shot to put Winnipeg ahead by a 4-0 margin.

A few minutes later, the Blackhawks were able to get a goal on the board. Hossa broke into the offensive zone on a breakaway, and he calmly deposited a shot past Hutchinson to make it a 4-1 game with about eight minutes to go in the second period.

In the final moments of the period, both teams had excellent chances to score, but neither could convert. Marcus Kruger fired in a shot on goal, and Hutchinson gave out a huge rebound. Kane couldn’t quite get enough on the shot to muscle it past the goaltender, and he made another save. At the other end, Frolik got a breakaway chance, but Raanta made a key blocker save. Finally, Kane finished off the hectic madness with a shot on goal, but Hutchinson made a big save to keep the Jets up by three goals after two periods.

That frantic pace was nowhere to be found as the third period began. The Hawks struggled to move the puck around the ice, and the Jets were more than happy to just play keep away and clog up the neutral zone. Both teams got power plays in the middle stages of the frame, but neither could convert as the energy level never rose above DEFCON-4.

With about five minutes to go, Joel Quenneville pulled Raanta in an effort to spark the team’s offense, but the move quickly backfired as Blake Wheeler stole the puck at the blue line and rifled a shot down the ice. It hit off the inside of the post and went into the goal, giving Winnipeg a 5-1 lead late.

The Blackhawks will take three days off (along with the rest of the NHL) for Christmas, then return to the ice on Saturday night when they travel to Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche. 

Illness sidelines Duncan Keith for Wild game

Defenseman Duncan Keith Jersey has an illness and will not be in the lineup when the Chicago Blackhawks face the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at the United Center.

Coach Joel Quenneville said the veteran "came in sick" and will miss his first game of the season. With the mumps virus making its way through some NHL locker rooms, Quenneville was asked if Keith's illness could be related to the outbreak.

"I'm not sure about that." Quenneville replied. "I don't know what's wrong. He's sick. Not feeling good."

Quenneville said the Hawks are "doing everything we can to prevent (the mumps). We'll see what happens." blackhawks winter classic jersey.

In a recent e-mail to the Tribune, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the league has no control in the prevention of what he described as an "unexpected" outbreak of mumps.

“As long as our clubs are doing what they need to do to minimize risk of contraction, we are hopeful that the wave of cases will run their course," Daly said in the e-mail. 

Hawks winger Patrick Kane Jersey said players are concerned about the outbreak.

"You're trying to do everything you can health-wise and hygiene-wise not to come across that," Kane said. "It seems like it's a pretty ugly disease and something that you don't want and something that can maybe keep you out of the lineup for a while too. Luckily, in our room no one really has come across it. Hopefully, it stays that way, knock on wood. Hopefully, this passes because it's not somenitng you really want to be worrying about."

Meanwhile, Antti Raanta will make his second consecutive start in goal for the Hawks.

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