Toews' goal in OT lifts Blackhawks to 4-3 win over Avalanche
DENVER (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks haven't found much recent success against Colorado. And after blowing a two-goal lead, it looked like the Avalanche and goalie Semyon Varlamov would again have the last laugh.
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane helped flipped the script.
Toews scored a power-play goal at 3:29 of overtime, Patrick Kane extended his NHL points lead with a goal and two assists and the Blackhawks snapped a four-game losing streak to Colorado with a 4-3 win on Thursday night.
"They get back in the game and you don't have a comfortable feeling," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville, said. "So it's nice to get that off our back and then have a little more confidence (down the line) against that team."
Artem Anisimov scored his 100th NHL goal and Andrew Desjardins added another for Chicago. Scott Darling, meanwhile, filled in for starter Corey Crawford and had 27 saves.
Colorado erased a 3-1 deficit as Erik Johnson tied the game with less than 5 minutes remaining in regulation.
Toews then answered on a man advantage with his fourth overtime goal of the season after the Avalanche were called for too many players on the ice.
"It's frustrating to take a too many men penalty in overtime," Johnson said. "It's a tough way to lose on a power play there."
Carl Soderberg and Cody McLeod also scored for Colorado. Semyon Varlamov had 39 saves and suffered his first loss in nine consecutive decisions against Chicago.
"(Varlamov) plays really well against us," Kane said. "Tonight we had a lot of shots on him and were able to get a few by him."
Kane was the spark.
He ended 2015 with 56 points in 39 games. On Thursday against the Avalanche, the same team that ended his 26-game point streak earlier in the month, he had two assists, including on Toews' goal. He also finished a 2-on-1 power-play chance early in the second.
The Blackhawks (22-13-4) are now 22-8-4 when Kane gets a point and 0-5-0 when he doesn't.
Thursday, their offense came alive near the end of the first period as Anisimov became the first Chicago player to beat Varlamov this season. The Colorado netminder had 29 saves in a 3-0 win over the Blackhawks on Dec. 15 and nine stops on Thursday before Anisimov tied the game at 1-1 with 1:28 left in the period.
Desjardins and Kane followed suit and scored in the first 4:20 of the second period to extend the lead to 3-1.
"The second period, we were horrible," Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. "They dominated us. It was pretty simple. If not for Varly it could have been a 6-2 game."
In the opening minutes Soderberg had a power play goal at 4:04 of the first period for the Avs (18-17-3), who scored first for the 11th consecutive game. Later, McLeod cut the lead to 3-2 with his first goal since Nov. 23.
Colorado dropped to 6-8-3 at home this season.
Notes: Jarome Iginla didn't score on Thursday and remained at 599 goals for his NHL career. ... Darling made only his second start of the month. ... The Avs have scored first in 26 of 38 games this season, the most in the league.