CHICAGO (AP) – Patrick Kane had his second hat trick in three games, Scott Darling made 36 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight victory and 10th in 11 games.
Richard Panik also scored to help Chicago pull within three points of first-place Minnesota in the Central Division and Western Conference. Kane, last season’s MVP, has a team-leading 27 goals – scoring 12 times and adding seven assists in his last 11 games.
Scott Wilson scored for Pittsburgh as the Penguins fell short again after a 3-2 loss at Dallas on Tuesday night. It was the first meeting this season between the last two Stanley Cup winners.
Darling started a second straight game in place of Corey Crawford, the No. 1 goalie who has been fighting an illness. Crawford said he felt much better following Wednesday’s morning skate and was on the bench to back up Darling.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 25 shots for Pittsburgh in his first start in two weeks.
Chicago center Artem Anisimov left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury.
Kane opened the scoring at 8:49 of the second.
Rookie Nick Schmaltz stripped the puck from Jake Guentzel at the Chicago blue line, then quickly whipped it the other direction to Kane who closed in on a 2 on 1. Kane fooled Fleury with a low shot between the legs.
Wilson tied it at 1 with 3 minutes left in the second on a rising backhander from the right circle that slipped over Darling’s glove.
Wilson’s shot popped back out of the net so quickly that the goal wasn’t immediately ruled a score. Play continued for 29 seconds before the horn sounded, and the goal underwent a video review and was allowed.
Panik put Chicago back in front 2-1 with 24 seconds left in the period with 17th goal. He made a power move down the slot around Chris Kunitz and beat Fleury high on the glove side.
Darling was at his best in the third to preserve the lead. His stops included a point-blank glove save on Matt Cullen at 5:01.
Kane made it 3-1 on a wrist shot from the right circle with 3:08 remaining. He completed his fourth career regular-season hat trick with an empty-netter with 40.7 seconds remaining.
