Blackhawks show some offense in victory over Blue Jackets

CHICAGO (MCT)  — Forget this 5-on-4 stuff.

Even when the Blackhawks appear to score with a man advantage, as they did three times Saturday night, it gets wiped off by video review, careless penalty or a kick to deepen the woes of a struggling power play.

Five-on-five, four-on-four, heck, even short-handed, it’s all good. The Hawks rode those scenarios and Viktor Stalberg’s two third-period goals Saturday night to a 5-2 victory over the Blue Jackets at United Center.

Stalberg’s game-winner came just 55 seconds after Bryan Bickell was whistled for high-sticking former Hawk James Wisniewski as Patrick Sharp banged home an apparent power-play goal. Nick Leddy chipped the puck ahead along the boards to Stalberg, who glided in and sent a wrister past Allen York, who was making his first NHL start.

Just less than two minutes later, Stalberg rewarded Andrew Brunette’s dirty work and banged home Brunette’s pass across the goal mouth after a strong Brunette move behind the net.

The Hawks led 2-1 after the first period on Marcus Kruger’s first NHL goal and a short-handed breakaway score from Dave Bolland, atoning for two first-period tripping penalties.

The Blackhawks appeared to take a two-goal lead when Patrick Kane batted in a rebound of his own shot on a second-period power play. However, video review upheld the on-ice call that Kane’s stick was above the cross bar, negating the goal.

That Sharp’s laser shot hit two posts just seconds before Kane’s play made the power-play failure all the more galling. As did the fact the Blue Jackets entered as the league’s worst penalty killing team but thwarted all five Hawks’ chances.

The Blue Jackets pulled even at 2-2 at the 14:02 mark of the second when Derek Mackenzie wristed a rebound past Ray Emery, making his second start of the season. The Hawks’ goalie had made a nice stop on a Rick Nash shot during a shift when defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson fell down, creating the advantage for Columbus.

The Hawks entered ranked 25th on the power play at just 12.1 percent and thus Joel Quenneville trotted out a new unit of Jonathan Toews, Brunette, Bolland, Leddy and Brent Seabrook for their first opportunity. That lasted just 45 seconds, though, before Bolland got sent off for tripping.

“Every game we’re getting a couple (of chances), not a ton,” Quenneville said. “So it’s tough to assess it. Then we lose the faceoff, so you’re starting right from your own end. That disrupts it the most.”

Sharp took the suspended Daniel Carcillo’s spot on the Kane and Marian Hossa line. And the Hawks did respond to Friday’s desultory loss in Carolina.

“A game like (Friday) night has to get your attention,” Quenneville said before the game. “We’re looking for a response, knowing that it wasn’t what we’re looking for across the board.”

Michael Frolik ended the scoring with an empty-netter.