The Blackhawks got a lift Friday night from a pair of first-year players – only one of whom is technically young enough to be considered a rookie.David Kampf scored his first NHL goal and added an assist on his 23rd birthday, Jeff Glass blocked 31 shots and the Hawks held off the Winnipeg Jets 2-1.Jan Rutta also scored for the Blackhawks, who ended the Jets’ three-game winning streak and handed Winnipeg its first regulation loss in seven games (6-0-1).

”It’s pretty special,” Kampf said through a translator. ”It’s the best day in my life to score the first NHL goal on my birthday.”

Glass, a 32-year-old who made his NHL debut on Dec. 29, lost a bid for his first shutout when Patrik Laine scored with 3:41 left in the third period. Winnipeg, the high-scoring Central Division leaders, came on with a late flurry, but Glass was sharp in his fifth NHL game to improve to 3-1-1.

”We checked hard all game,” Glass said. ”Made my life easy.”

That was mostly the case until the Jets nearly tied it in the final minutes, when they started buzzing in the Hawk zone.

”They pressed,” Glass said. ”I still think we did a great job hanging on.”

Corey Crawford, missed his ninth game with an upper-body injury. No timetable is set for his return.Anthony Duclair, acquired from Arizona on Wednesday as part of a four-player trade, had an assist in his Blackhawks debut as he skated on a line with Kampf and Alex DeBrincat. The trio was on the ice for both Hawk goals.GM Stan Bowman said he acquired the speedy 22-year-old Duclair to add more quickness.

”That line played well,” coach Joel Quenneville said. ”They immediately were noticed right off the bat. Whether it was quickness off the rush with the puck, they did some good things.”

Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots.

The Minnesota Wild overcame a shaky start for a timely victory against a division rival.Ryan Suter gave Minnesota the lead on a 4-on-4 early in the third period, Devan Dubnyk made 34 saves and the Wild held off the Blackhawks 2-1 on Wednesday night to end a two-game slide.Jonas Brodin scored in the second period for Minnesota (23-17-4). The Wild pulled two points ahead of the Hawks (21-16-6) in the tight Central Division and tussle for playoff spots in the Western Conference.The Wild were outshot 14-5 in the first period – and lucky to trail just 1-0.

”The first period was terrible,” Suter said. ”We weren’t skating, no energy, turning a lot of pucks over, and they were playing in our end.”

Following the opening frame, coach Bruce Boudreau told his players to get a grip on the game, and they responded.

”You saw the first period,” Boudreau said. ”(The Blackhawks) probably had the puck 15 minutes in our zone, it was embarrassing. Being within one goal is amazing.to (the Wild’s) credit, I thought in the second and third period, they really buckled down and played really hard.”

Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook, a healthy scratch in a 8-2 victory in Ottawa on Tuesday night, was back in the lineup and celebrated with his first goal since opening night.But that’s all the Blackhawks could muster.

”We had some OK zone time, but we really weren’t connecting on passes,” said Patrick Kane, who was held off the scoresheet after posting a career-high five points at Ottawa. ”(The Wild) did a good job intercepting plays we were looking for, so it a little bit of different club were going up against.

”A bit frustrating when you get something going. You want to build off that and we didn’t do it.”

The Blackhawks were 0-for-3 on the power play – including wasting a chance late in the third period – after going 4-for-6 with the advantage against the Senators.Anton Forsberg made 25 saves in his third straight start. Corey Crawford, the Blackhawks No. 1 goalie, missed his seventh game with an upper-body injury and hasn’t resumed skating. There’s no timetable for his return.Blackhawks defenseman Jan Rutta left early in the third, then returned late in the period, after taking an illegal hit to the head from Minnesota’s Marcus Foligno.Both teams played their second games in two nights. Minnesota lost 3-2 in overtime at home to Calgary on Tuesday night.The Blackhawks acquired winger Anthony Duclair and defenseman Adam Clendening from Arizona before the game in a trade for right wing Richard Panik and minor league forward Laurent Dauphin.Getting the speedy 22-year-old Duclair is another step for Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman as he tries to shake up and add quickness to a perennial contender that’s looked sluggish at times this season while fighting to maintain a playoff position.The talented but inconsistent Duclair has nine goals and six assists in 33 games this season, scoring in each of his last two games after reports surfaced that he had asked for a trade.

NOTES—Entering Wednesday, the 32-year-old Seabrook had just one goal and 10 assists in 41 games and had often looked sluggish. Coach Joel Quenneville said he’s ”looking for a little bit more from (Seabrook) … whether it’s defending, quickness or offensively.” … Kane, the Hawk’s leading scorer, and Minnesota C Eric Staal were named Wednesday to the NHL All-Star Game. … Minnesota RW Nino Niederreiter missed his second game with a lower-body injury. He is expected to be out until the Wild returns from their bye week on Jan. 20. … The Blackhawks had seven defensemen its lineup. … Blackhawks C Nick Schmaltz played his 100th NHL game.

NEW YORK—Lauri Markkanen had knocked down eight 3-pointers and almost knocked out his coach with a soaring slam, but Kris Dunn couldn’t get anything to fall.He kept shooting, and eventually hit the shot that put the Bulls on top for good.Markkanen scored a season-high 33 points, Dunn shook off a nightmarish shooting night to make the tiebreaking basket in the second overtime, and the Bulls beat the New York Knicks 122-119 on Wednesday night.

”It was a hard-fought win,” Markkanen said. ”We could have ended it a little bit earlier, but (that’s) just how we won.”

Dunn had missed 14 of his first 17 shots before banking in a runner with just under a minute left in the second extra period and Markkanen finished it off by making two free throws with 6.8 seconds remaining.The rookie added 10 rebounds.

”For Lauri to come in on the big stage, the World’s Most Famous Arena, and hit eight 3s and play against arguably the best power forward in the league in Porzingis, play 46 minutes and hit those big free throws late, just tells you everything you need to know,” coach Fred Hoiberg said.

Robin Lopez and Denzel Valentine each scored 20 points for the Bulls in their third narrow victory over the Knicks this season. Markkanen was 8 of 15 behind the arc though his highlight play was at the rim, when he threw down a dunk over Knicks center Enes Kanter .

”I damn near passed out when he dunked that one,” Hoiberg said.”When he took that full court and just cocked it back, I was speechless. I got chills. It was crazy.”

Michael Beasley 26 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for the Knicks, who lost for the eighth time in 10 games. Kristaps Porzingis finished with 24 points, including a dunk at the buzzer to force the second OT.

`We had opportunities. We didn’t get stops at crucial times,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said.

Lopez then had the first two baskets of the second OT, and after the Knicks got the next two, Dunn made his shot to make it 118-116. He’d had plenty of easier looks that didn’t fall, but his teammates and coaches told him to keep shooting.

”The mid-range, that’s my shot, and I kept getting to my spots,” Dunn said. ”I liked the shot and it wasn’t falling, and the fact that the sky floater goes in is just like, all right, if that’s going to go in, then we’re going to have to accept it.”

Jarrett Jack had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his first triple-double in six years, but threw away a pass after coming up with a steal with the Knicks down two late in the second OT.Nikola Mirotic missed his second straight game with an illness. … The Bulls ended a four-game losing streak in New York.

ROSEMONT—For a guy who thought his senior season and college career might be over when he injured his left knee not too long ago, Bryant McIntosh sure could appreciate this.McIntosh set a school record with 16 assists, Scottie Lindsey scored 22 points and Northwestern beat short-handed Minnesota 83-60 on Wednesday night.

”When I went down I was in the back and you don’t know if something’s wrong or it’s torn or anything,” McIntosh said. ”You just continue to look at the jersey and realize how special a place I’m at and appreciate it even more. So being able to put it back on and go out and play was so much fun. Tonight, all the joy that we played with was great, incredible. I just don’t want to take it for granted anymore.”

McIntosh was relieved he only had to miss one game after he went down in a win over Brown on Dec. 30. He returned to score 18 in a loss at Penn State last week, and he topped that performance by setting a record in this one.McIntosh broke the previous mark of 14 set by Patrick Baldwin against Youngstown State on Dec. 5, 1992, and he got plenty of hugs on the sideline when he left late in the game. Even better, he said he had a ”really close relationship” with Baldwin when he was an assistant at Northwestern.Dererk Pardon added 13 points and 12 rebounds. Aaron Falzon scored 15, and Northwestern (11-7, 2-3 Big Ten) ran away with an easy win after dropping three of four.Minnesota (13-5, 2-3) struggled on both ends with two of its top players missing and star Jordan Murphy having a quiet game. Suspended center Reggie Lynch faces possible expulsion following sexual assault allegations by two women. Guard Amir Coffey remained sidelined by a shoulder injury and the Gophers dropped their second straight after winning five in a row.Coach Richard Pitino said it ”sure seemed like” the off-the-court issues impacted his team’s performance.

”That’s normal,” he said. ”It’s my job to get them back to having fun. We were playing good basketball and I thought today we certainly looked frustrated with the two technicals and things like that. I’ll get their heads right. It’s my responsibility and I’m looking forward to doing it because they deserve that.”

Dupree McBrayer scored 14 for Minnesota, while Murphy fouled out with eight points and two rebounds after hitting double digits in both categories in each of the first 17 games. McBrayer and Nate Mason each got called for technicals. Murphy and Mason (nine points) both fouled out.The Gophers struggled on defense and got flustered by Northwestern’s zone, shooting just under 31 percent overall while making 8 of 24 3-pointers.The Wildcats went on a big run midway through the first half and took a 43-21 lead to the locker room.Trailing 13-12, Jordan Ash nailed a 3. McIntosh ignited the sparse crowd with an alley-oop to Pardon, then fed him a no-look pass for a dunk, and just like that the Wildcats were rolling.Credit NU’s Gavin Skelly with the most impressive play, even if it wasn’t a smart one.He missed an easy dunk early in the second, hung onto the rim, reached back with one arm and threw down. The basket didn’t count, of course. Skelly got a technical for hanging on the rim and earned the wrath coach Chris Collins said.

”Look, if he misses the dunk it’s fine,” Collins said. ”You’ve just got to be smart enough to know that you can’t do a chin-up. It was very athletic. I’ll give him credit. He showed a lot of dexterity and agility and all those things. But it wasn’t the brightest play.”

NORMAL—Aundre Jackson and Clayton Custer combined to score 16 of their 29 points in the final seven minutes to help Loyola beat Illinois State 68-61 on Wednesday night.Jackson finished with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Custer added 14 points, going 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the last 26 seconds. Marques Townes had 12 points and Bruno Skokna scored 11 for Loyola (13-4, 3-2 Missouri Valley). The Ramblers snapped a six-game skid against Illinois State (9-8, 3-2).Phil Fayne scored seven straight points to give the Redbirds a 46-45 lead — their first since 2-0 — with seven minutes left. Custer made two free throws and then hit a 3 to spark a 12-2 run that gave the Ramblers a nine-point lead with three minutes to go. They made their last five field-goal attempts and hit 6 of 6 free throws in the closing seconds to seal it.Fayne led the Redbirds with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Milik Yarbrough added 13 points and eight assists, but committed nine of Illinois State’s 18 turnovers.Loyola made 23 of 44 (52 percent) from the field, hit 16 of 18 from the free-throw line and scored 25 points off turnovers.

After the big kahuna hit over the weekend with Jon Gruden officially going to the Raiders, one of the next head-coaching dominos fell. It is going to involve Andy Reid’s coaching tree adding another branch, as Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was hired by the Bears, the team announced Monday.The decision by GM Ryan Pace, himself just 40 years old, to hire a youthful offensive coordinator — Nagy is just 39 years old — as head coach follows a couple of trends and makes some logical sense in terms of trying to develop Mitchell Trubisky. Nagy is one of several former Delaware quarterbacks to find success in the NFL. He joins Joe Flacco and Rich Gannon as famous Blue Hens to make it big, although the other two obviously hit it large as quarterbacks in the NFL. Nagy spent time in the Arena Football League before getting into coaching, joining the Philadelphia Eagles as in intern in 2008. He would rise to offensive quality control coach by the 2012 season and then join Reid in Kansas City when Reid was dismissed by the Eagles and hired by the Chiefs that offseason.

The Houston Rockets nailed plenty of 3-pointers early and late, and the lull in between couldn’t prevent them from picking up a win they certainly needed.Eric Gordon and Chris Paul each had 24 points and nine assists, Gerald Green scored 22 and the Rockets beat the Bulls 116-107 on Monday night despite blowing a 21-point lead.Trevor Ariza added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Rockets, who had lost seven of nine.The fact that they’ve been without NBA scoring leader James Harden lately hasn’t made things easier. He missed his fourth straight game because of a strained hamstring.It helps when the freewheeling Rockets are connecting from long range. They made 20 of 54 3-pointers despite a big lull in the middle quarters, with Ariza draining six in the game and Green and Gordon each hitting four.The Rockets went 8 of 13 in the first quarter and 7 of 16 in the fourth. In between, they were 5 of 25.Clint Capela added 15 points and 16 rebounds, and Houston won for the second time in four games without Harden.Bobby Portis led the Bulls with 22 points. Denzel Valentine and Kris Dunn each scored 19, but the Bulls lost for the fifth time in six games.

”I think we’re definitely improving,” Dunn said. ”The chemistry is there.”

Houston nearly put this one away early, going up by 21 late in the first quarter after Paul’s four-point play. But the Bulls got more physical and went ahead in the third.The Rockets regrouped, scoring eight straight to stretch a two-point lead to 10 late in the quarter. Back-to-back 3s by Green and Paul made it 87-76 going into the fourth.The Bulls had no update after forward Zach LaVine and his representatives met Monday with management, coaches and medical staff to set a date for his Bears debut. Vice president of basketball operations John Paxson figures to give one when he meets with the media on Tuesday.Acquired along with Dunn and Lauri Markkanen in the draft-night trade that sent Jimmy Butler to Minnesota, Lavine appears ready to play for the first time since he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last February. The two-time slam dunk champion averaged 18.9 points in 47 games for the Timberwolves last season.Nikola Mirotic missed the game because of a stomach virus that’s been bothering him the past few days. Fred Hoiberg said Mirotic ”felt much better” prior to playing 23 minutes at Indiana on Saturday but took a bad turn after that game. He saw a doctor on Monday. … Hoiberg said G Cameron Payne, recovering from a broken right foot, is cleared to do ”pretty much everything except jumping.” Payne had surgery in September and has not played this season.

The first regulation win of Anton Forsberg’s career was a big one for the goaltender and the Blackhawks.Forsberg made 32 saves, Nick Schmaltz and Alex DeBrincat scored in the first period, and the Blackhawks beat the slumping Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Sunday.Brandon Saad and Jordan Oesterle also scored for the Blackhawks (20-15-6), which got its first home win since a 4-1 victory against Minnesota on Dec. 17. Jonathan Toews extended his point streak to four games.Forsberg got his second win in just his 10th start of his first season with the Hawks. Forsberg had been the backup all year, but his role had come into question after Jeff Glass came up from the minors and played well with starter Corey Crawford sidelined by an upper-body injury.

”Obviously every goalie wants to play as much as possible, and I’m not any different there,” Forsberg said. ”I don’t think it’s any different now. I still want to play good, if (Crawford) is here or not. I’m trying to do my job as good as possible, same as before.”

Edmonton (18-22-3) has dropped six of seven, including a 5-1 loss at Dallas on Saturday. The Oilers have been outscored 20-3 in their last five games.

”It’s a humbling game,” forward Milan Lucic said. ”There are times we’re on Cloud 9 and times where we’re at the bottom of the barrel. I don’t think the last two games, probably more so yesterday than today, was a lack of effort. It’s just some minor mistakes that lead to big goals against.”

Darnell Nurse’s sharp-angled backhander trimmed the lead to 2-1 at 4:12 of the second. Jujhar Khaira got a look at the tying goal after Brent Seabrook’s turnover with about six minutes left in the period, but Forsberg smothered his shot.The Hawks top line of Vinnie Hinostroza, Toews and Saad then combined for a big play in the final seconds of the second. Hinostroza got the puck up to Toews, who muscled his way toward the net before shaking free for a shot that Saad deflected past Talbot at 19:50.Oesterle added his third of the season midway through the third. Talbot finished with 25 saves.

”We got beat in a number of areas, so that combined with the confidence level we have right now is very poor timing,” Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. ”That didn’t set us up for a lot of success in the third.”

The Blackhawks were coming off a disappointing 5-4 loss to expansion Vegas on Friday night, prompting coach Joel Quenneville to shuffle his lineup for the final game of the first half of the season. Defensemen Connor Murphy and Cody Franson were benched in favor of Michal Kempny and Jan Rutta, and John Hayden was a healthy scratch with Ryan Hartman returning from an upper-body injury.The Blackhawks got off to a slow start against the Golden Knights and then blew a 4-3 lead in the third period. They were much better in the first against the Oilers.Schmaltz jumped on a loose puck and slipped a backhand through Talbot’s legs for a 1-0 lead at 8:03, extending his goal streak to three straight games with his 10th of the season. The Hawks then caught a break when DeBrincat’s centering pass went off the right skate of Edmonton forward Mark Letestu and past Talbot for the rookie’s 14th goal at 9:29.

”It’s huge, especially after last game,” Saad said. ”We weren’t happy with the way we played. Moving on here today, we knew this was a big game against a good team. I think we played a pretty good 60 minutes.”

NOTES—Quenneville had no update on Crawford and C Artem Anisimov, who also is out with an injury. Neither player has skated since they were placed on injured reserve.

NEW YORK—Jeff Glass is starting to get comfortable in goal for the Blackhawks.Glass, the 32-year old rookie who bounced around the hockey world before finally reaching the NHL last month, made 23 saves to lead the Hawks to a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
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‘This is my chance right now,” Glass said after securing his second career NHL victory. ”We played a strong game as a unit, I just did my part. It was a lot of fun out there.”

Patrick Sharp broke a tie early in the third period as the Blackhawks concluded a six-game trip. Nick Schmaltz, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane also scored.

”Contributing offensively is to be expected from every line,” Sharp said. ”We’re more than capable of doing it but more than anything, I thought we played real stingy tonight and didn’t give up a whole lot so that was one of the keys tonight.”

Nick Holden and Mika Zibanejad scored for New York in the Rangers’ second regulation loss at home since Nov. 28.New York struggled to get through the neutral zone most of the evening and only converted one power play chance on six opportunities in their first game back since the Winter Classic at Citi Field.

”I saw one team playing hockey and the other chasing the whole night,” Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said. ”It’s really disappointing. We know we are coming off a big emotional win and a big stage but we’re almost at the halfway point of the season where we need to start playing with some consistency and we didn’t give ourselves a chance there. They were able to do whatever they wanted. We didn’t finish checks, slow them down, their speed. They had time and space and we left our goalie out to dry.”

Glass, a well-traveled hockey veteran has played on six Kontinental Hockey League teams and three American Hockey League teams before being called up on Dec. 27 when Corey Crawford was placed on injured reserve.

”I think Glasser came in and gave us a little jolt of personality and energy,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. ”After coming out of three tough games going into the break, coming out of it not the way you want to be playing on the road. We’ll go back home, we showed a lot better of an effort. I liked the response, the way we finished up the trip.”

Sharp, a three-time Cup winner with the Hawks, who returned this season after spending the previous two years in Dallas, scored at 2:24 of the third when his wrist shot sailed past goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s glove.

”I saw a lot of good things, a lot of the speed in the game,” Joel Quenneville said. ”We got to a lot of pucks first. We did a lot of good things, we were more disciplined than we’ve been in maybe any other game. We found a way to kill some big penalties.”

Hinostroza opened the scoring with 3:51 left in the first period. After an offensive zone faceoff win, Toews retrieved a loose puck in the corner and slipped a backhand pass to Hinostroza.The Rangers tied it two minutes later when Nick Holden fired a slap shot from the right point past Glass.The Hawks took a 2-1 lead midway through the second when Nick Schmaltz converted a breakaway. Rangers defenseman, Marc Staal, inadvertently put the puck in his own net before knocking the net off the moorings.