CHICAGO — J.T. Compher scored his second goal of the game on a breakaway to snap a tie with 5:22 left in the third period, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 Friday night for their third straight win.
Compher broke in alone from centre ice after taking a pass from Patrik Nemeth and beat Collin Delia with a shot over the glove.
Carl Soderberg also had two goals, including a short-handed empty-netter, and Gabriel Landeskog scored his 32nd goal early in the third. Colorado got 41 saves from Semyon Varlamov.
Patrick Kane scored his 39th goal to extend his points streak to 20 games and goal-scoring run to five straight. Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat also scored for Chicago, while Jonathan Toews and Erik Gustafssson each had two assists.
Delia finished 26 saves as Chicago lost for just the third time in its last 13. Kane has 17 goals and 26 assists during his points streak.
Colorado Avalanche left wing Matt Nieto skates in on Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Collin Delia. (AP Photo/David Banks)
Both the Avalanche and Blackhawks entered with 61 points, one behind Minnesota for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Colorado led 1-0 after a brisk first period that had only one whistle in the opening 9:45.
Soderberg opened the scoring with 3:51 left to cap a rush. After plowing past Gustafsson, Soderberg drove to then net, took a pass from Alexander Kerfoot and beat Delia between the pads for this career-high 20th goal.
Strome tied it with a power-play goal at 10:48 of the second. Gustafsson’s shot from the blue line whizzed past the left post. The puck bounced off the back board and to Strome, who tucked it in from the edge of the crease.
Compher’s power-play goal with 1:55 left in the second put Colorado back ahead, 2-1. He connected from the right side of the slot, and was set up by Mikko Rantanen on a play from a faceoff.
The Blackhawks replied from a faceoff in the Colorado zone when Kane scored with 29 seconds left in the frame. Kane was wide open in the right circle when he one-timed in a cross-ice feed from Toews.
Landeskog put Colorado in front 3-2 at 3:36 of the third after he rode Toews off the puck deep in the Chicago zone. The Avalanche captain kept skating with the puck, circled across the slot, fired and beat Delia low on the glove side.
Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports)
DeBrincat backhanded in a second rebound midway through the third on a power play to tie it at 3.
With Colorado ahead 4-3, the Blackhawks pressured during a power play and with Delia pulled for an extra attacker in the final 1:43. Varlamov was sharp before Soderberg sealed it with his empty-netter with 34 seconds left.
NOTES: Kane is the seventh player in NHL history to have multiple point streaks of 20 more games. … Rantanen’s assist on Compher’s goal was his 200th NHL point. … Chicago D Brent Seabrook missed his third game with an abdominal strain and D Carl Dahlstrom sat out with flu-like symptoms. … The Blackhawks recalled D Henri Jokiharju from Rockford of the AHL and put him in the lineup. The 19-year-old, a first-round draft pick in 2017, played 37 games for Chicago earlier this season. … Avalanche F Colin Wilson (upper-body injury) missed a sixth straight game and D Ian Cole (upper body) sat out an eighth straight.
UP NEXT
Avalanche: At Nashville on Saturday.
Blackhawks: Host Dallas on Sunday afternoon.
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Matt Carlson, The Associated Press
