Chris Joseph scored a power-play goal with 69 seconds left in overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Canucks, who killed off Scott Walker's elbowing penalty earlier in overtime, have posted consecutive wins for the first time since winning four straight from October 26th-November 2nd.
Esa Tikkanen stole the puck from defenseman Keith Carney behind the Chicago net. He held the puck before passing to Joseph, who streaked down the left wing before ripping a slap shot over goaltender Jeff Hackett's glove.
"Hey I'm a defenseman, I just close my eyes and shoot the puck," joked Joseph about the goal. "Tikky made a great pass, it seemed like I had all the time in the world to get the puck in. Fortunately for me it went in."
"I thought it was off side," said Carney about the winning goal. "I thought I had a free puck. I was going to hang on to it and reverse the puck. That wasn't the case. He picked off the pass."
Walker, who was called for elbowing Chicago defenseman Chris Chelios 48 seconds into the overtime, was slashed by winger James Black to give the Canucks a power play with 1:54 left. A scuffle ensued after the winning goal and Chelios and Vancouver center Trevor Linden received double-roughing minors.
"I know it was a stupid penelty and a stupid time to take a penalty," said Walker, who is nicknamed Wild Thing. "Sometimes I get a little carried away and I really think the guys were killing it off."
Shortly into the power play, Chicago had an excellent scoring chance but Alexei Zhamnov tipped Gary Suter's point shot wide of the net. Zhamnov had another chance with a wrist shot from the left circle but goalie Corey Hirsch made a pad save and fell on the puck as he it dropped behind him.
Hirsch 27 saves and improved to 5-3.
Tony Amonte scored his 13th goal to give Chicago a 1-0 lead, 3:36 into the game. Amonte came in on a breakaway and got off a shot that trickled underneath Hirsch's stick.
After domintating the play for the second period, Pavel Bure notched his eighth goal to tie the score 1-1 with 6:04 left in the third. Rookie defenseman Mark Wooten tied up Chelios allowing Bure to picked up a loose puck and lift to the upper right corner from the right doorsetep.
"I skated to Pavel and said 'You're going to get one,'" said Walker, who played his second game on the same line with Bure and Linden. "I was laying on the back of the net when he scored."
After being outshot 14-4 in the first period, the Canucks outshot the Blackhawks 31-14 the rest of the way.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Jeff Hackett
2. Tony Amonte
3. Corey Hirsch
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