Frank Nazar Wins It In OT 3-2 Against Mammoth

 

For the second time since the Olympic break, the Chicago Blackhawks got the better of the Utah Mammoth, grinding out a 3-2 overtime victory on Monday at United Center. The win snaps Chicago's three-game skid and ends Utah’s three-game winning streak. Frank Nazar provided the heroics, burying his ninth goal of the season in the extra frame to seal the win. Andrew Mangiapane and Andre Burakovsky also found the back of the net for the Blackhawks, matching regulation goals from Utah’s Barrett Hayton and Dylan Guenther. The two teams won't have to wait long for a rematch, as they meet this Thursday again at Delta Center. 

 Utah Mammoth Lineup:

Keller - Schmaltz - Guenther

Peterka - Cooley - Crouse

McBain - Hayton - Yamamoto

Kerfoot - Stenlund - Carcone

Weegar - Durzi

Schmidt - Marino

Cole - DeSimone

Vanecek

Vejmelka

Chicago Blackhawks Lineup:

Greene - Bedard - Burakovsky

Bertuzzi - Nazar - Teravainen

Mangiapane - Donato - Mikheyev

Lardis - Lafferty - Slaggert

Vlasic - Crevier

Kaiser - Rinzel

Grzelcyk - Levshunov

Commesso

Soderblom

Barrett Hayton opened the scoring at 10:17 of the first period when Ian Cole got the puck after it got to him along the left wall near the blue line, and he sent it across to Nick DeSimone, who flipped the puck toward the net from the right point, and Hayton deflected it over Drew Commesso's right shoulder to put the Mammoth ahead 1-0. This was Hayton's ninth goal of the season. At 6:14, Andrew Mangiapane tied it 1-1, scoring his first goal as a Hawk after being acquired in a trade last week with the Edmonton Oilers. Ilya Mikheyev stole the puck from Nick Schmaltz along the wall before passing it to Mangiapane, who handed it over to Ryan Donato. Donato threw the puck toward the crease from the right face-off circle for it to make its way into the net past Vitek Vanecek off Mangiapane's body. With 3:34 to go in the first, Dylan Guenther took back the lead for Utah 2-1 off a pass from Clayton Keller, who got the puck from Schmaltz before moving into the left circle and passing it in front to Guenther, who slid it between Commesso's pads.

Late in the middle frame, Andre Burakovsky tied it back up 2-2, recording his 11th of the season with 4:25 on the clock after Connor Bedard's shot deflected off the end board. Burakovsky, who was at the side of the crease, collected the puck and banked it in off Vanecek. This was his first goal since January 7th.

Frank Nazar won it in overtime at 2:36, scoring a power-play goal off a pass from Teuvo Teravainen, who received the puck from Bedard on the right side before passing it to Nazar in the slot for a wrist shot home past Vanecek to secure the 3-2 victory.

Notes:

- Drew Commesso made a total of 22 saves for Chicago. ...On Saturday, Commesso was recalled from the Rockford IceHogs because Spencer Knight has been ill.

- Vitek Vanecek made a total of 23 saves for Utah.

- The Blackhawks are 24-29-11, and the Mammoth is 34-25-5.

- This season, the Blackhawks are 3-0-0 against the Mammoth.

- The Utah Mammoth holds the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They're six points ahead of the Seattle Kraken.

- Connor Bedard recorded his 116th career assist, surpassing Eddie Olczyk (115) for the most by a Blackhawks skater age 20 or younger. ...With his two assists, he recorded his 44th career multi-point game. He ties Denis Savard for the most by a Blackhawks player at age 20 or younger.

- With his game-opening goal, Barret Hayton is one of four Mammoth skaters with multiple goals against the Blackhawks (2-2--4 in 6 GP). Clayton Keller (3 in 6 GP), Lawson Crouse (2 in 6 GP), and Dylan Guenther (2 in 6 GP) are the others.

- With his goal for the Mammoth, Guenther became the Mammoth’s second 30-goal scorer in as many seasons to start their NHL tenure. The last franchise to feature a 30-goal scorer in each of their first two campaigns was the Jets/Coyotes (23 from 1979-80 - 2001-02). ...He has three goals in his past five games.