Mikheyev, Nazar and Knight lead the Blackhawks to a 3-1 win over the Penguins
CHICAGO (AP) — Ilya Mikheyev scored twice, Frank Nazar added a goal and Spencer Knight stopped 28 shots as the Chicago Blackhawks snapped a five-game skid with a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night.
Rickard Rakell scored on a power play and Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves for the Penguins, who have lost five of their last seven games.
After a scoreless first period, Nazar gave Chicago the lead with a short-handed goal at 18:55 of the second. It was Nazar’s ninth of the season and came off Teuvo Teravainen’s 42nd assist.
Mikheyev stretched the Blackhawks’ lead to 2-0, scoring on a wrist shot at 9:40 of the third. Connor Bedard and Sam Rinzel assisted. He added an empty-netter with 56 seconds remaining.
Rakell pulled Pittsburgh within a goal at 14:36 of the third, matching his career high with his 34th goal of the season. Bryan Rust and Ville Koivunen picked up assists.
Takeaways
Penguins: Sidney Crosby wasn’t able to duplicate the effort that produced a four-point game on Saturday. Crosby was coming off a three-goal, one- assist game in a win over Dallas. He had his NHL-leading 12-game points streak ended and managed two shots in the loss, playing 19:43.
Blackhawks: Entered the game having lost 12 of their last 13 games. Chicago won for the first time since beating Philadelphia 7-4 on March 23.
Key moment
A key save by Knight with a minute remaining set Mikheyev’s second goal of the game, an empty netter, in motion and spoiled Pittsburgh’s comeback bid.
Key stat
Nazar’s short-handed goal was just the fifth allowed by the Penguins this season.
Up next
The teams play again on Tuesday at Pittsburgh.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
