Blackhawks Keep Rolling, Bruins Down Blues

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Published on January 11 2017 6:13 am
Last Updated on January 11 2017 6:13 am

By ESPN

 A nifty shot by Duncan Keith helped the Chicago Blackhawks keep rolling despite giving up two leads.

Keith scored a power-play goal 38 seconds into overtime, lifting Chicago to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night for the Blackhawks' fourth straight victory.

Keith, who also had an assist, beat Petr Mrazek with a rising screened drive from the top of the slot. The man advantage was set up when Justin Abdelkader was called for boarding Chicago's Niklas Hjalmarsson with 15.2 seconds left in the third.

It was just the second goal this season for Keith, who was named to the All-Star team earlier in the day for the fourth time in his career. The two time Norris Trophy winner has 29 assists, and moved into third place in all-time scoring among Blackhawks defensemen with 86 goals and 403 assists.

"I feel I've been shooting the puck quite a bit better the last three weeks or so." Keith said.

And the difference?

"If I gave away my secrets, everybody would be using them," Keith joked. "I don't know if those secrets work. I've got two goals."

Keith's goal, which he didn't think Mrazek saw, allowed the Western Conference-leading Blackhawks to sweep a four-game homestand.

Bruins 5, Blues 3

David Backes was a spectator for most of the third period in his return to St. Louis. He didn't mind.

Brad Marchand scored twice, including an empty netter, and Backes got into a fight as the Boston Bruins beat the Blues 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Frank Vatrano, Brandon Carlo and Torey Krug also scored for the Bruins, who improved to 2-0-1 in their last three games. Tuukka Rask made 14 saves.

"I think the guys are really buying into trying to play hard here and there's a lot of pride in our dressing room and we just got to keep showing it," Bruins coach Claude Julien said.

Backes, who spent his first 10 seasons with St. Louis before signing with Boston as a free agent, fought with former teammate Joel Edmundson late in the second to the delight of the Scottrade Center crowd. Backes dropped the gloves in retaliation for a hit on Bruins teammate David Krejci by Jori Lehtera and received an instigator and a 10-minute misconduct in addition to his fighting penalty.

"I felt like they were trying to get the game back by trying to intimidate us and hitting us all over the place and I don't think it really matters how it happens," Backes said. "It's kind of, we've got to put an end to this, so I tried to put an end to it."

The Bruins fed off of the energy of Backes' return.

"You always want to step up for your teammate and `Backs' the way he plays for our team and the things he does every night, it's great to be able to go to battle for him and come up with a win for him," Marchand said.

Colton Parayko, Patrik Berglund and Kyle Brodziak scored for the Blues. Jake Allen was pulled for Carter Hutton after allowing three goals on 11 shots in the first period. Hutton finished with 26 saves.

"I got here for a reason and just be confident in there and trust everything that I've done to get to here is going to work," Allen said. "It's tough times right now, but defiantly better days ahead."

Boston scored four goals on its first 13 shots.

Vatrano put the Bruins up 1-0 with a power-play goal at 8:19 in the first period. It was the sixth straight game the Blues gave up the first goal.

Carlo made it 2-0 with 4:40 left in the first on a lucky bounce. Carlo's slap shot went wide, but caromed off the end boards and off Allen's leg and into the net.

Marchand scored his fourth goal in his last three games to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead with 2:08 left in the first. Marchand extended his points streak to four games.


Tuesday, January 10 Scoreboard

Buffalo 4, Philadelphia 1

Carolina 5, Columbus 3

Boston 5, St. Louis 3

Nashville 2, Vancouver (1OT)

Chicago 4,  Detroit 3 (OT)

San Jose 5, Edmonton 3

Anaheim 2, Dallas 0

 

Wednesday, January 11 Schedule (All Times Central)

Florida at New York Islanders, 6 p.m.

Montreal at Winnipeg, 6:30 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Washington, 7 p.m.

San Jose at Calgary, 8:30 p.m.