Rookie Artemi Panarin scored two goals for the second straight night, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat Pittsburgh 3-1 on Wednesday for their second win against the Penguins in two days.
Panarin broke a 1-1 tie when he jumped on a loose puck after a faceoff and whipped it over the glove of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury at 8:56 of the third. Teuvo Teravainen added an empty-net goal as Chicago earned its season-high fifth straight win in the opener of a four-game homestand.
Panarin also had two goals in Chicago's 3-2 victory at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, including the winner in overtime. The Russian winger leads all NHL rookies with 15 goals and 38 points.
Scott Darling, filling in for starter Corey Crawford, made 17 saves as the Blackhawks swept the season series against the Penguins for the second straight year.
Evgeni Malkin scored for Pittsburgh, and Fleury finished with 34 stops. The Penguins had won two in a row and four of six before the two losses against the Blackhawks.
>>Blues Lose 4th Straight
Nathan MacKinnon got the Colorado Avalanche to overtime, where Gabriel Landeskog finished off a big win.
Landeskog scored at 4:44 of overtime and the Avalanche rallied late Wednesday night to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3.
It was a valuable two points for Colorado, which has overcome a slow start to move within two points of the second wild card in the Western Conference at the halfway point of the season.
The Avalanche trail Nashville for the last playoff spot with the Predators in town Friday night.
Matt Duchene and Mikhail Grigorenko also scored for the Avalanche, who handed the Blues their fourth straight loss.
Landeskog got the winner when St. Louis goalie Jake Allen lost a race to the puck near the right circle. John Mitchell got there just ahead of the diving Allen and sent it across to Landeskog, who put it in the empty net.
It was his ninth of the season and first since Dec. 15.
Vladimir Tarasenko, David Backes and Patrik Berglund scored for the Blues. Allen finished with 29 saves.
St. Louis was poised to get a key Central Division win before Colorado rallied. The Avalanche pulled goalie Semyon Varlamov for an extra skater with 2:10 left and MacKinnon scored at 18:31 with a sharp-angle shot that went off Allen.
It was his 14th of the season.
Varlamov had 35 saves.
