Brent Seabrook scored 41 seconds into overtime, lifting the Blackhawks to a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night, Chicago's seventh consecutive home victory.
The Blackhawks went 4-0 on a homestand that included games against the Western Conference's three top teams — San Jose, Colorado and Los Angeles. Chicago begins a six-game road trip Thursday night.
Despite the loss, the Sharks extended their streak of games with at least a point to 12 (9-0-3). The NHL's best team with 32 points, San Jose hasn't had a regulation defeat since Oct. 22 at Tampa Bay.
Evgeni Nabokov made a nice save on Troy Brouwer but Jonathan Toews chased down the puck, skated in front of the net and fed Seabrook, who scored from the slot against the helpless Nabokov.
Chicago's Brent Sopel and San Jose's Dany Heatley scored in the first period. It was Heatley's 14th goal, tying him for the NHL lead.
Rookie defenseman Jason Demers scored his first career goal and Patrick Marleau followed 45 seconds later with his league-high ninth road goal to put the Sharks up 3-1 early in the second period.
Midway through the second, Patrick Kane beat Nabokov from the left circle after taking a nice centering feed from Toews. Kane has a seven-game point streak.
San Jose had two chances to regain its two-goal, second-period lead. At 13:43, a video review confirmed the puck didn't cross the goal line after a scramble in front of Chicago goalie Cristobal Huet. About two minutes later, Marleau's shot hit the crossbar.
The Blackhawks capitalized on their good fortune, tying it on John Madden's rebound goal with 1:19 left in the period.
Each goalie made several nice saves in the scoreless third period. Huet ensured the game would go into overtime when he kicked aside Scott Nichol's 30-foot slap shot with 12 seconds left in regulation.
NOTES: Blackhawks LW Kris Versteeg sat out with an undisclosed injury sustained Friday against Toronto. ... The Sharks, who have scored on almost a third of their road power-play opportunities, became the first team in seven games to score with a man-advantage against the Blackhawks. ... The crowd of 21,130 was a United Center season high. ... The Blackhawks honored former All-Star Jeremy Roenick, who finished his 20-year career last season as a member of the Sharks. Roenick scored 267 of his 513 career goals during his eight years with the Blackhawks, who drafted him in 1988.
Source: AP News
