Blackhawks top Capitals in shootout

The Chicago Blackhawks let their reserves handle the scoring during regulation. When their game against the Washington Capitals got into a shootout, they brought out their star.

Jonathan Toews, one of the most successful shootout scorers in NHL history, had the only goal in the tiebreaker when the Blackhawks defeated the Capitals 5-4 Friday night at Verizon Center.

Toews, 27 for 55 in shootouts during the regular season, beat Washington rookie goalie David Leggio in the opening round of the tiebreaker. It was Toews' first preseason game after missing three with a lower-body injury.

Chicago rookie goalie Antti Raanta denied all three Washington attempts, ending the game by stopping Nicklas Backstrom's wrist shot.

Washington has gone to a shootout in all four of its preseason games, winning the first two. Chicago was coming off a 4-3 home shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday and left many of its regular at home.

"I thought we played a good game," Quenneville said. "I thought coming in here with a lineup that might have looked like we were [up] against it, we found a way to get something out of it."

Backstrom opened the scoring 1:23 into the game, but Chicago tied it before intermission on a goal by Drew Olsen and went ahead 3:58 into the second on a goal by Jeremy Morin.

Tom Wilson, Washington's first-round pick in 2012, tied the game at 6:35; goals by Brad Winchester and Brandon Bollig in a span of 6:39 put Chicago ahead 4-2. Eric Fehr's goal late in the second got Washington within one, and Alex Ovechkin's power-play blast at 8:17 of the third made overtime necessary.

"There were a lot of positives about this game," Capitals coach Adam Oates said. "Obviously we want to win, but so many good things happened. There's a lot of positive reinforcement tomorrow at practice – video, all the little things we can teach. Tonight, [assistant coach] Calle [Johansson] and I were talking late in the game on the bench, that there were so many good things that we can talk about."