Lafferty's 2 SH goals lead Blackhawks past Sharks 5-2
By JOSH DUBOW | AP Sports Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Sam Lafferty scored short-handed goals on back-to-back penalties in the second period to give coach Luke Richardson his first career win in the Chicago Blackhawks' 5-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.
“Just kind of good bounces,” Lafferty said. “Right place, right time and good work by all the PK guys.”
Jonathan Toews also scored in the second period as the Blackhawks scored three times in a span of 3:14 to erase a two-goal deficit.
Jason Dickinson had a goal and two assists in his debut for Chicago and Taylor Raddysh also scored to give the Blackhawks their first win in three games this season. Petr Mrazek made 24 saves.
“We were really good the first half of the first period and then I think we thought it was coming maybe a little too easy,” Richardson said. “We took the foot off the pedal and had a couple scrambling d-zones they ended up capitalizing on. We kind of went to the dressing room after the first and just chatted with the guys. Credit to all the leaders in that room. I didn’t say too much.”
Nico Sturm and Erik Karlsson scored for the Sharks, who have lost the first four games of the season for the third time in franchise history. Kaapo Kahkonen made 20 saves.
“I think we have more character in this room than then we show on the ice,” Karlsson said.
San Jose was in good shape after the first period before a turnover and a shoddy power-play led to another loss for first-year Sharks coach David Quinn.
Toews got it started after Mario Ferraro turned it over trying to get out of the Sharks' defensive zone. He got past Karlsson and beat Kahkonen for his second goal of the season.
Then with Andreas Athanasiou in the box for holding, Jason Dickinson set up Lafferty alone in front for the game-tying short-handed goal.
Connor Murphy was sent off for cross-checking with 6 seconds remaining in Athanasiou's penalty and then after killing off the short 5-on-3 advantage Lafferty scored again on a rebound of a shot by Dickinson.
Lafferty became the first Blackhawks player to score two short-handed goals in the same game since Rene Bourque did it on Feb. 28, 2008, against Dallas.
"Our power play has to be much more effective and play hockey within the power play,” Quinn said.
The Sharks took more than 11 minutes to get their first shot on goal but still managed to take a 2-0 lead after the first period thanks to Karlsson.
Karlsson patiently made a cross-ice seam pass to set up Sturm for the first goal and then his shot from the point deflected off a defenseman's stick to make it 2-0 with 37.2 seconds left in the period.
WILSON TRIBUTE
The Sharks honored their former GM and first captain Doug Wilson in a pregame ceremony that included a tribute video and a banner raised in his honor.
Wilson helped build San Jose into a perennial contender during his 19 seasons. The Sharks had the third most regular season wins during that span and made five trips to the conference finals and the franchise’s only Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2016 when San Jose lost to Pittsburgh in six games.
Wilson stepped down last year for medical reasons and said he's not ready to return to working full-time yet.
Wilson played his first 14 seasons in Chicago before joining the expansion Sharks in 1991. Players on both teams wore No. 24 jerseys with Wilson's name on the back during warmups.
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Host Detroit on Friday in home opener.
Sharks: Visit New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
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