Toews, Blackhawks defeat Avalanche in OT

CHICAGO -- Jonathan Toews scored nine seconds into overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 2-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at United Center on Tuesday.
Toews scored on a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Patrick Kane.
"It was nice to get that chance right away and bury it," Toews said. "You always say that overtime can go either way, and it's usually one great scoring chance after the next, end to end, so it's nice to get that first one to go in."

Nathan MacKinnon scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves for the Avalanche, who are 3-0-2 in their past five games. Colorado (35-24-7) moved into a tie with the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
\[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Blackhawks highlights\]
"Wish we had two [points]," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I didn't think we played a complete game tonight. We were a little slow the first period and really got going in the second, I liked it. But not happy with the overtime goal at all. We made a mistake on that, easy coverage, we let a guy in behind us, and it cost us a second point.
"We'll take any points, but at this time, I'd like to see our team play more of a complete game, to get two points or give ourselves a better chance to get two points."
Erik Gustafsson scored, and J-F Berube made 33 saves for the Blackhawks (29-30-8), who are 4-1-0 in their past five home games and 11 points behind Colorado.

"It feels good. Even in San Jose I felt good, just a little different result," Berube said. "But the main thing is to stick with it and just let that one go and look forward, and I'm happy with the way it went tonight."
Gustafsson, who signed a two-year contract Tuesday, put the Blackhawks up 1-0 at 5:08 of the first period after his pass deflected off Avalanche defenseman Patrik Nemeth's skate past Varlamov.
"I was trying to find [Kane] on the backdoor, but it came off the skate," Gustafsson said. "It was a good day. New contract, goal, a win too. Like I said, it was a good day."
MacKinnon tied it 1-1 at 16:18 of the second period with a wrist shot on the power play.

Brandon Saad appeared to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead with 1:17 left in the second period, but the goal was overturned after video review determined he kicked the puck into the net.
"A good ending there," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought there were a lot of good things in the game tonight. Nice to see [Berube] get a win and, obviously, nice to always win."

Goal of the game

Toews' goal nine seconds into overtime.

Save of the game

Berube's save on Gabriel Landeskog at 13:05 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Gustafsson's goal at 5:08 of the first period.

They said it

"I thought I liked our game in the second half there. I thought we really responded when we were down by one, and it would have been nice to capitalize on that last power play that we had. We had an opportunity to close the game out, but unfortunately, we didn't. ... We got one point, but that's not good enough for this time of year." -- Avalanche forward Tyson Jost
"It's fun in the room when we win. It's fun in front of our fans to give them something to cheer about. We still get great support, people filling the building and coming out even though we haven't been great. It's nice to find ways to win those tight ones and give our fans something." -- Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews

Need to know

MacKinnon has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in a six-game point streak. … Tyson Barrie has six points (two goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak. … Kane has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.

What's next

Avalanche: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, ALT, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, FS-CR, NHL.TV)