NHL: Chicago Blackhawks go down to Edmonton Oilers for second consecutive defeat

Chicago coach Joel Quenneville left disappointed after poor start to game but is proud of fightback.

Joel Quenneville, the Chicago Blackhawks head coach, standing right, was disappointed by the result of the game but pleased by the way his players responded following a poor start.

All the streaks are over. The Chicago Blackhawks have lost in regulation at home and on the road, in consecutive NHL games.

Now they get a chance to rest.

Patrick Kane had two goals and an assist as the Blackhawks rallied after a terrible start, but Yann Davis made 10 saves in the third period to help the Edmonton Oilers hold on for a 6-5 victory on Sunday night.

"Definitely disappointed with the way we began the game," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "We've seen that movie before from them. I like the response though after that."

Sam Gagner scored two of the Oilers' four goals in the first period, helping Edmonton come up with a sorely needed victory.

The Oilers had dropped five in a row and six of seven on their franchise-record, nine-game road trip. They were shut out in each of the previous two games.

"It's just a good feeling to come out with a win," Gagner said. "We wanted to respond after the last couple of games and we did a good job of that in the first. We got away from it a bit in the last two periods, but we were able to hang on to the win and that's the important thing."

Ryan Whitney and Taylor Hall each had a goal and an assist for Edmonton, which is at Colorado on Tuesday before returning home. Captain Shawn Horcoff also scored as the Oilers went 3 for 4 on the power play.

"The explosion we had in the first period, you could see they were a little back on their heels coming off their loss in Colorado," Oilers coach Ralph Krueger said. "They were slightly flat and we really took the opportunity. I thought all of our goals tonight, all six, were excellent goals."

Chicago set an NHL record by recording at least one point in the first 24 games of the season. The streak ended with a 6-2 loss at the Avalanche on Friday night, and the Blackhawks needed an entire period to find their footing in their seventh game in the past 11 days.

Now they are off until they open a four-game road trip on Thursday at Columbus.

"We've got to take advantage, take care of our bodies and get ready for Thursday," captain Jonathan Toews said. "It'll be nice."

Rangers 4 Capitals 1

About three hours after asking for more respect from NHL officials, Alex Ovechkin was called for two penalties within seconds, leading to a pair of goals that put the New York Rangers ahead in a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals.

Brian Boyle scored his first goal of the season one game after being a healthy scratch, and Ryan Callahan also took advantage of Ovechkin's miscues to give New York a two-goal lead in the second period. Derek Stepan and Brad Richards also scored, and Martin Biron made 28 saves for the Rangers, who have won five of six.

Steve Oleksy scored his first NHL goal for the Capitals, who endured a rough weekend against New York teams. Washington lost 5-2 on the road against the Islanders on Saturday.

With the score 4-1, Capitals coach Adam Oates pulled goalie Braden Holtby in favour of Michal Neuvirth, who had not played since February 7 and had recently been sidelined with an illness.

Blue Jackets 3 Red Wings 2

Ryan Johansen and Matt Calvert scored in the shoot-out and streaking Columbus beat Detroit to complete a series sweep.

Derick Brassard and RJ Umberger had goals in regulation, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves through overtime for Columbus, which has won five straight. The Blue Jackets topped the Red Wings 3-0 in Columbus on Saturday.

The Blue Jackets are 5-0-2 in their last seven games after getting only 12 points in their first 19.

Jakub Kindl and Johan Franzen scored for Detroit in regulation, and Jimmy Howard stopped 19 shots. Pavel Datsyuk scored the Red Wings' only goal in the shoot-out. Franzen tied it 2-2 with a 5-on-3, power-play goal 25 seconds into the third period.

Penguins 6 Islanders 1

Sidney Crosby tied a career high with five assists, and Chris Kunitz posted his second hat-trick of the season in Pittsburgh's rout of the New York Islanders.

Crosby's big night boosted his point total to an NHL-leading 45 and helped the Penguins win their fifth straight. James Neal had a goal and three assists, and Pascal Dupuis scored twice for Pittsburgh. Tomas Vokoun made 23 saves.

Brad Boyes scored the lone goal for New York, which had a five-game point streak snapped. Evgeni Nabokov stopped just 12 of 17 shots in two periods before getting pulled for the final 20 minutes.

The Penguins played without reigning NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin, who sat out due to an upper body injury.

Canadiens 5 Panthers 2

Michael Ryder scored two power-play goals to lift Montreal over Florida.

David Desharnais, Brian Gionta, and Francis Bouillon also scored, and PK Subban had three assists. Ryder has seven assists and two goals in seven games since being acquired from Dallas on February 26.

Peter Budaj stopped 14 shots for the Canadiens, who won for the fourth time on their five-game trip and earned their ninth road victory of the season. The Canadiens swept the season series from the Panthers.

Tomas Kopecky and Shawn Matthias scored for Florida, and Jacob Markstrom made 33 saves. The Panthers have lost six of seven and 13 of 16.

Devils 3 Jets 2

Patrik Elias scored the only goal of the shoot-out, and Johan Hedberg stopped all three Winnipeg attempts as New Jersey topped the Jets.

Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta scored in regulation time for the Devils, who won for only the second time in nine games since top goalie Martin Brodeur was sidelined with a sore back. Hedberg made 23 saves through overtime and then turned away Blake Wheeler, Evander Kane and Andrew Ladd in the shoot-out.

Elias netted the winner with a backhander on the Devils' last attempt that just got under goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who made 25 saves before the tiebreaker.

Defenseman Mark Stuart and Kane had regulation goals for the Jets, who had a two-game winning streak snapped and lost for only the third time in eight games.

Flyers 3 Sabres 2

Claude Giroux, Simon Gagne and Max Talbot all scored to help Philadelphia snap a three-game losing streak by beating Buffalo.

Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 18 shots for the Flyers (12-14-1), who are still on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff race. They are ahead of the Sabres, who are buried in last place in the Northeast Division and have lost four straight.

Brian Flynn and Jochen Hecht scored for Buffalo.

With both teams struggling, tempers were short. Buffalo's Mike Weber slugged it out with Wayne Simmonds, and Sabres center Steve Ott threw a punch at Kimmo Timonen.

Ducks 4 Blues 2

Corey Perry scored the go-ahead goal with 14:40 left in the third period before adding an empty-netter in the final minute, Jonas Hiller made 14 of his 29 saves in the second period, and Anaheim tied a franchise record with its 11th consecutive home victory by topping St Louis.

Bobby Ryan tied it early in the third and Andrew Cogliano had a short-handed goal, helping the Ducks improve the NHL's second-best record to 18-3-3. Anaheim, 15-2-2 in its last 19 games, has not lost at home since the opener against Vancouver.

Patrik Berglund had a power-play goal, Ryan Reaves also scored, and Jaroslav Halak made 17 saves for the Blues, who have lost six straight in Anaheim and 10 of 11 there.

Wild 4 Canucks 2

Zach Parise had two goals and an assist, Niklas Backstrom had 25 saves, and Minnesota beat Vancouver.

Jason Zucker and Jared Spurgeon also scored for the Wild, who won their fourth straight home game and beat their Northwest Division rivals for the first time this season.

Cory Schneider made 28 saves, and Henrik Sedin and Chris Higgins scored for the Canucks, who fell to 1-3-2 in their past six games.

Avalanche 3 Sharks 2

Matt Duchene scored his second goal of the night just as time was about to expire in overtime, lifting Colorado over San Jose and stretching the Avalanche's home winning streak to a season-high five.

Duchene, who has three goals in two games, wristed a shot past Antti Niemi after taking a pass from PA Parenteau.

Officials upheld the goal after a replay review showed Duchene got the shot off an instant before time would have run out in the extra period.

Patrick Marleau scored San Jose's first goal, the 400th of his career. Logan Couture tied it 2-all at 16:35 of the third when he followed a turnover by Colorado with a slap shot that got past goalie Semyon Varlamov.