Patrick Sharp is red-hot. Marian Hossa is supernova.
The veteran forwards, held in check along with the rest of their teammates for two-plus periods by Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak, ignited in the third to help the Blackhawks rally to a scintillating 3-2 overtime victory Monday night in front of an initially dazed but then suddenly delirious crowd of 20,641 at the United Center.
Trailing 2-0 past the midway point of the third, Hossa struck twice off scrambles in front of the net — including the game-tying score with 4 minutes, 17 seconds remaining when he tapped the puck in from between his legs while his back was to the goal. He has an NHL-leading seven goals through seven games.
Sharp then nailed his third consecutive game-winning goal when he took a feed from Patrick Kane with 1:10 remaining in overtime and buried it from the left side past Halak. It was the center’s fifth goal in the last three games and made a winner of Marty Turco, who came up big in the overtime with seven saves to improve the Hawks’ record to 4-2-1.
“(The Blues) play really well defensively, and we didn’t create much in the first two periods,” Hossa said. “They were back five guys, and we ended up in the neutral zone and that’s all they gave us. In the third, we started playing more simple and grinding hockey. We never quit.
“We just tried to put everything at the net, and it worked. It was a huge goal by Sharp at the end — another win.”
Halak was terrific most of the night as he stymied the Hawks and had the Blues looking like they were on their way to their third victory in the first five games of the season. Hossa then struck to set up Sharp’s heroics.
“It was a great pass by (Jassen) Cullimore and (then) Kane — I saw it coming a mile away,” Sharp said of the cross-ice pass. “I think Kane did too. We’ve done that a few times and luckily we got it in overtime. As soon as he got (the puck) I saw him kind of spin and I didn’t know if he was going to shoot it. He hesitated just a second and saw me coming in. He sold the shot and sent it over. I had a feeling he was coming over to me and if he didn’t he was going to get an earful after the game. It was a nice play.”
The play spoiled the effort from Halak, who finished with 30 saves, and that of David Perron, who scored both St. Louis goals. Turco made 32 saves to improve to 3-1-1 as he and the Hawks won their third consecutive contest.
“Pretty exciting to say the least,” Turco said. “(The Blues) are well-coached, responsible and they make it tough (so) you’ve got to earn chances. Sometimes you need a break or big plays, and (Monday night) we worked for our chances.”
