Crawford shaky in return as Blue Jackets beat Blackhawks in OT
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Scott Hartnell scored a power-play goal at 2:28 of overtime, and the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied for a 5-4 victory over the depleted Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.
Corey Crawford allowed five goals on 25 shots in his first game since suffering an injury on March 14.
Hartnell finished with two goals and two assists as Columbus (34-40-8) closed its season with four wins in five games. Alexander Wennberg had a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets, and Brandon Saad added a goal and an assist against his former team.
The Blackhawks (47-26-9) were without forwards Artem Anisimov, Marian Hossa and Andrew Shaw due to injuries, and defenseman Duncan Keith was shelved by a suspension that runs through the first game of the playoffs. Captain Jonathan Toews and defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson were held out for rest ahead of the postseason.
Patrick Kane and rookie Artemi Panarin each had two goals and an assist for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who head into the playoffs off a pair of overtime losses.
Kane finished the season with a career-high 46 goals and 60 assists. He is set to become the first American-born player to lead the NHL in scoring and is one of the front-runners for league MVP.
Hartnell picked up his 23rd goal when Cam Atkinson's shot went off him and past Crawford in overtime, ending the season on a high note for Columbus. But it was a mostly disappointing campaign for a Blue Jackets team that failed to qualify for the postseason for the 13th time in its 15-year existence.
A season that many thought would take the franchise to new heights never got anywhere, crushed under the weight of an opening eight-game slide. Coach Todd Richards was fired and replaced by John Tortorella.
The Blue Jackets got off to a slow start and the Blackhawks jumped all over them. Panarin set up Kane just nine seconds into game, and then scored two of his own to stake Chicago to a 3-0 lead in the first.
Columbus responded with three of its own in the second. Saad completed a pretty passing sequence with his 31st of the season, extending his career high and tying it at 3 with 3 minutes left.
Wennberg made it 4-3 at 3:09 of the third, one-timing a short feed from Hartnell behind the net. Kane tied it again at 9:49 with a hard one-timer from the slot.
With 2:18 left, the Blackhawks had a two-man advantage for 48 seconds but Sergei Bobrovsky made big saves on Kane and Panarin. He finished with 22 saves.
NOTES: Hartnell's first goal was his 300th. ... Atkinson played his 300th career game. ... Blackhawks D Viktor Svedberg left with a lower-body injury. ... It was the third time in franchise history that Columbus overcame a three-goal deficit to win. ... Panarin is the fourth rookie in franchise history to score 30 or more goals in a season
- With files from theScore