04-17-2019, 01:41 AM
PITTSBURGH, Pa. Andrei Vasilevskiy Jersey . - With a couple of flicks of the wrist, the Chicago Blackhawks headed into the NHL All-Star break with momentum.Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane beat Marc-Andre Fleury in a shootout to lift the Blackhawks to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.Chicago improved to 8-2 in games decided after regulation when Toews beat Fleury between the legs, and Kane followed with a wrist shot the goalie watched sail by his blocker.We have great confidence, Toews said. Our goaltender can make stops and we have shooters who like to be in that situation. We like our odds given the circumstance.The Blackhawks also regained swagger following a pair of decisive home losses to Winnipeg and Dallas. Chicago thumped Arizona 6-1 on Tuesday and backed it up by surviving a game effort from the undermanned Penguins to win in Pittsburgh for only the second time since 1997.Even if things arent going so well, were good at taking responsibility for it and not dragging our feet around and dwelling on what were not doing or whats not going our way, Toews said. We just find ways that we can make things better, and we showed an example of that in the last two games.David Rundblad and Marian Hossa scored in regulation for Chicago. Corey Crawford made 33 saves and held Pittsburghs David Perron and Sidney Crosby in check in the shootout.It was a tough game, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. You find when you win these types of games, it makes you a good team.Zach Sill scored his first NHL goal and Steve Downie added his eighth of the season for the Penguins. Fleury stopped 24 shots but Pittsburgh hobbled into the break with a fourth straight loss, among them a bruising overtime defeat in Philadelphia on Tuesday that included injuries to stars Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin.Letang was held out as a precaution following a frightening collision with Philadelphias Zac Rinaldo. Malkin skated during warm-ups on Wednesday before telling trainers he couldnt play due to an undisclosed issue. Malkins status for All-Star weekend is uncertain.The absence of two vital parts of Pittsburghs core took some of the punch out of the game both teams hope is a Stanley Cup preview, though neither has looked like a top-flight contender the last month.Pittsburgh has cooled to fall just off the pace of the first-place New York Islanders in the crowded Metropolitan Division. Chicago trails surprising Nashville and steady St. Louis in the Central.Rundblad gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead 6:56 in. The defenceman took advantage of a dominant shift by the top line of Hossa, Toews and Brandon Saad. The trio kept the puck buried in Pittsburghs zone for more than a minute, with Rundblad taking a feed from Hossa at the point and sending a shot past a well-screened Fleury for his fourth goal.Hossa doubled Chicagos lead early in the second with his 10th goal, a wrist shot from just inside the left circle that Fleury barely saw through the sea of bodies. Yet just when it appeared the Penguins were ready to collapse, they responded behind some unlikely contributors.Sill went 47 games before recording the first point of his career with an assist against Minnesota last week. He didnt wait nearly as long to earn his second, sending a wrist shot from the slot over Crawfords glove 5:21 into the second.The fourth-line forward nearly smacked a Chicago player in the head with his stick during a giddy celebration, one that provided the spark necessary to wake the Penguins from a weeklong swoon.Downie tied it at 12:22 of the second, stuffing a rebound past a sprawled Crawford for his first goal since Jan. 2. That set up an electric back-and-forth third period that played in stark contrast to Pittsburghs penalty-filled meeting with the Flyers the night before.When weve been short players, really short players we seem to be able to pick it up, coach Mike Johnston said. We need to be able to do that when we have everybody in the lineup. ... Our depth really stepped it up.NOTES: The Penguins host Winnipeg next Tuesday but will play 21 of their final 36 games on the road. ... The Blackhawks face a difficult six-game trip after the break, starting next Wednesday at Los Angeles. ... The game was stopped twice in the first period due to a clock malfunction. One delay lasted nearly five minutes. ... The Blackhawks went 1 for 2 on the power play. The Penguins were 0 for 2. ... Philadelphia general manager Ron Hextall said Rinaldo feels horrible about his illegal check on Letang. Rinaldo will have a teleconference with the NHLs Department of Player Safety on Monday. Tampa Bay Lightning Jerseys . "This is my city," the Toronto native said upon his arrival Wednesday night. And the 35-year-old former league MVP says he is hoping to making 2014 a memorable year. Martin St. Louis Jersey . -- Derek Jeter says the New York Yankees have no choice but to move forward now that Alex Rodriguez has accepted his suspension for the 2014 season. http://www.lightninghockeystore.us/Vince...er-Jersey/ . The Calgary Stampeders announced both moves on Wednesday. Parker played 17 regular season games with the Stampeders in 2013, setting career-highs in catches (21) and yards (217).PHILADELPHIA -- Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino is among the latest group of football players to file a concussion-related lawsuit against the National Football League. The 52-year-old former Miami Dolphins quarterback is one of 15 former players who filed a lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia last week. Marino and the other 14 plaintiffs join more than 4,800 others who have alleged the NFL misled players abouut the long-term dangers of concussions. Custom Tampa Bay Lightning Jerseys. The NFL has denied those claims. The lawsuit doesnt specify any medical problems suffered by the plaintiffs including Marino, who retired in 1999. It seeks unspecified damages and medical monitoring. The NFL and the original group of players agreed on a $765 million settlement last August. But the settlement was rejected by a federal judge in January. ' ' '