The Vancouver Canucks had just blown a two-goal lead when the puck dropped for overtime. The Blackhawks had all the momentum, and were looking for an unlikely victory.That’s when the Sedin brothers connected for a big goal for Vancouver.Henrik Sedin got his second assist when Daniel Sedin scored his second goal at 1:20 of overtime, sending the Canucks to a 5-4 victory on Wednesday night.
“The twins made the magic happen once again and that was a big goal for them,” said forward Alexandre Burrows, who had an assist for Vancouver.Henrik made a great pass to his brother in the middle of the ice, and Daniel pushed it into the open left side of the net for his 13th of the season. He also scored in the third period to give Vancouver a 4-2 lead with 4:37 remaining.Canucks coach Willie Desjardins, who celebrated his 58th birthday, said the team got production from all over, but “the Sedins came through again for us with a couple of big ones late.”
Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists for for the Hawks, which looked listless for much of the night, and then closed with a flourish. Marian Hossa scored two goals for the third consecutive game.
“It’s feeling good when the puck’s going in for you,” Hossa said. “Just try to put a puck at the net – that’s my goal right now – and good things happen. That’s what I try to do.”
The Hawks dropped to 0-2 on its season-high eight-game homestand. The Blackhawks won consecutive games against Winnipeg and St. Louis before returning home for a 3-2 shootout loss to lowly Arizona on Monday night.Vancouver had a 3-1 lead before Hossa rushed in from the right side for a power-play score at 12:48 of the third. After Daniel Sedin restored the Canucks’ two-goal lead, the Blackhawks rallied again.First, Brandon Saad got a piece of Duncan Keith’s shot for a power-play goal. Then Hossa beat Eddie Lack on a bad-angle shot from the left side for his 16th, tying it at 4 with 55 seconds left.
“Whether it’s desperation or urgency, we kind of came alive there at the end,” Keith said. “We’re a tough team to play against when we get our backs against the wall, but you never want to let it get like that.”
The crowd of 21,346 chanted “Hossa! Hossa!” before the start of overtime, but Daniel Sedin quickly ended the extra session. He has 19 goals and 30 assists in 51 career games against the Hawks.
“That’s a good team over there,” Daniel Sedin said. “They made us pay at the end, but we got the overtime win and we’ll take it.”
Linden Vey, Bo Horvat and Zack Kassian scored in the second for Vancouver, which bounced back from Tuesday’s 5-3 loss at Minnesota. Lack had 37 saves one night after he replaced Ryan Miller in the second against the Wild.The Hawks made a couple of costly mistakes in its defensive zone, and Vancouver jumped on the miscues to move in front in the second period.The Blackhawks had a turnover and struggled to get the puck out of their end before the Canucks turned a 3-on-1 rush into Vey’s tying goal at 4:42. Radim Vrbata passed to Chris Higgins on the left, and he moved it to the other side to an open Vey for his eighth of the season.Vrbata has two goals and six assists in a seven-game point streak.David Rundblad then had an ugly sequence that ended with Horvat’s go-ahead score. Corey Crawford stopped Ronalds Kenins’ drive, but Rundblad was unable to clear away the rebound and Horvat slammed it home for his sixth goal.The Canucks increased their lead to 3-1 when Kassian deflected Luca Sbisa’s shot past Crawford while battling Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook in front of the net.
“I didn’t like the goals we gave up tonight, because it seemed like every goal that had, we had the puck in a good position and it ended up going the other way and into our net,” Joel Quenneville said. “Whether it was coverage or poor plays with the puck all led to back in our end and in the net.”
NOTES—Blackhawks F Kris Versteeg played 17 minutes in his return from a hand injury. Versteeg got hurt in the Winter Classic at Washington. … Sbisa and Higgins also had two assists apiece.