Blackhawks Slide Past Avalanche on Kane’s OT Winner

DENVER — Patrick Kane scored his second goal of the game 41 seconds into overtime and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Saturday night.

The Blackhawks were on a power play when Kane knocked in the decisive shot from the slot off a feed from Jonathan Toews for Chicago’s fifth win in six games. Two have come at the expense of the Avalanche, who lost their fourth straight.

Kane has a seven-game point streak. He leads the Blackhawks with 22 goals.

Alex Debrincat also scored for Chicago. Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen had the goals for Colorado.

The Avalanche evened it at 2 with an extra attacker on the ice because of a delayed penalty. MacKinnon, who had just missed a couple of attempts in close, jumped on the ice from the bench after the Avalanche pulled their goalie and let fly a shot from the point that rocketed into the net through traffic at 18:21 of the second period.

Down 2-0, the Avalanche got on the board at 17:04 of the first on Rantanen’s power-play goal that got past goalie Collin Delia. Tyson Barrie set it up with his 208th career assist, most by a defenceman in team history.

The Blackhawks struck twice in the first 10 minutes, starting with a power-play score by Debrincat, who beat goalie Semyon Varlamov with a shot from inside the left circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Kane.

Kane also drew the slashing penalty that put Alexander Kerfoot in the box, and the Blackhawks converted for the seventh time in their past 16 power plays.

Kane, who had a hat trick in a 5-2 win over Minnesota on Thursday, made it 2-0 at 9:38 of the first when he one-timed a shot from the right circle after getting a pass from Artem Anisimov.

NOTES: Blackhawks C Marcus Kruger has been activated from injured reserve after missing four games with a concussion. … Avalanche D Nikita Zadarov missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury. … MacKinnon was selected Central Division captain for the NHL All-Star game on Jan. 26 in San Jose, California.

UP NEXT

Blackhawks: Face the Boston Bruins in the Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium on Tuesday.

Avalanche: Continue a four-game homestand Monday night against the Los Angeles Kings.

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Dennis Georgatos, The Associated Press