Connor Bedard scored with 1:03 left in overtime for the Chicago Blackhawks, who beat the Utah Mammoth 3-2 Thursday in Salt Lake City for their second win over their Central Division rivals this week.
Bedard also added an assist as Chicago swept the four-game season series with the Mammoth. Frank Nazar extended his points streak to five games with a goal and an assist. It was the 22-year-old’s third two-point game in the last six days. Tyler Bertuzzi also assisted on Nazar’s goal.
Spencer Knight, playing for the first time in a week, made 29 saves and ended a personal four-game losing streak (0-3-1).
Dylan Guenther and JJ Peterka scored for the Mammoth, with Logan Cooley, Mikhail Sergachev and Michael Carcone credited with assists.
Karel Vejmelka stopped 20 shots for Utah, which lost its third straight but is 3-1-2 in its last six.
After helping Knight keep Nick Schmaltz from scoring, Bedard raced to give the Blackhawks a 3-on-2 rush. When Alex Vlasic’s shot rang off a post, Bedard was there to knock the loose puck into the net for his 27th goal of the season.
Guenther put Utah up with 14:13 left in the second period. His 31st goal and his third goal in four games came off a takeaway in the Blackhawks attack zone by Sergachev, who returned Thursday after a nine-day absence due to a lower-body injury.
The defensemen fed Cooley for a 2-on-1 breakaway. Cooley dished to Guenther just before they reached the circles, and Knight could not recover in time.
Chicago earned the first power play with 1:34 into the third, on a Clayton Keller high-sticking minor, and the Blackhawks tied it 44 seconds later on a 4-on-3. Bertuzzi had an easy tip-in as he was alone behind Vejmelka, and Bedard lasered the puck to him from the circle.
Nearly seven minutes later, Nazar, who scored the overtime game-winner against Utah Monday in Chicago, put the Blackhawks ahead with 10:43 left as he circled around the net and found the puck coming to him from Teuvo Teravainen.
Peterka forced the extra five minutes with 6:15 to go after Carcone forced a Chicago turnover in its own end.
–Field Level Media
