Columbus, OH – Patrick Kane recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season with two assists, as the Chicago Blackhawks maintained their unblemished record and continued their dominance over the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 3-2 win at Nationwide Arena.
Jonathan Toews, Dave Bolland and Bryan Bickell scored for the Blackhawks, who have started a season 5-0-0 for the time since 1971-72. Corey Crawford made 24 saves.
Niklas Hjalmarsson finished plus-3 with an assist for Chicago, which notched its eighth consecutive victory over the Blue Jackets and seventh straight in Columbus.
Artem Anisimov and Mark Letestu had the goals for the Blue Jackets, who have dropped four in a row since opening the truncated campaign with a shootout win at Nashville.
"We're disappointed with the loss. We want to stop this skid," Letestu said.
Steve Mason finished with 21 saves.
Columbus was 0-for-5 on the power play, but had what would have been a tying goal on a man advantage waved off in the second period for apparent goaltender interference. The Blue Jackets were trailing 2-1 at the time of the unfavorable whistle.
Marian Hossa played a key role in the Blackhawks grabbing a 3-1 lead. He knocked down Letestu's pass at the blue line, keeping the puck in the Columbus zone. Kane jumped on it and quickly dished to Toews, who was alone in front of Mason.
The Chicago captain made a couple of dekes before sliding the puck past Mason's glove at the left post 6:35 into the third period.
Anisimov tapped in a feed from Brandon Dubinsky with 2:19 remaining, but Columbus couldn't net the equalizer.
"Finding ways to win is important," said Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville. "You're not going to be great every night or your best every night."
Letestu opened the scoring 7:35 into the contest. Nick Foligno found a puck in a goalmouth scramble and shoveled it to Letestu, who scored seconds after the Blackhawks had killed off Sheldon Brookbank's holding minor.
Bolland answered for Chicago with 2:06 remaining in the first period, burying the rebound after Kane was denied by Mason on a hard drive to the net.
Chicago moved in front at the 8:50 mark of the middle stanza on Bickell's redirection of a Niklas Hjalmarsson point shot.
Game Notes
The Blackhawks had scored a power-play goal in each of their first four games before going 0-for-4 on Saturday ... Adrian Aucoin was minus-3 for Columbus.
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