Islanders at Blackhawks
Patrick Kane will try to come up with a big performance on back-to-back nights as his Chicago Blackhawks host the New York Islanders on Saturday. Kane scored his second goal of the game with 1:49 gone in overtime to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a 3-2 victory Friday that spoiled the season opener for the Islanders.
Kane had an assist in the 3-2 loss against the New York Rangers on Wednesday that lifted the lid on the 2015-16 season for a revamped Chicago lineup. The Islanders, who lost in the first round of the playoffs last season, tied the game twice Friday before taking a penalty in overtime that led to Kane’s winner. All-Star John Tavares, who finished second in the NHL scoring race last season, opened his 2015-16 account with a goal for New York and started the season playing with wingers Anders Lee and Ryan Strome. “It wasn’t the prettiest game,” Tavares told reporters. “We fought hard, we worked hard and I thought we had chances to win it in regulation.”
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, MSG-Plus 2 (New York), WGN (Chicago)
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (0-0-1): Defenseman Marek Zidlicky scored a goal in his debut for New York and Travis Hamonic led the Islanders blue liners with 26:59 of ice time in the opener while recording five shots on net. Thomas Greiss started the opener in place of injured No. 1 goalie Jaroslav Halak (upper body, day-to-day) and was backed up by Jean-Francois Berube, who was recently claimed on waivers from the Los Angeles Kings. The Islanders would like to carry over their effort in the faceoff circle as they won 40 of 67 draws Friday.
ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (1-1-0): Center Artem Anisimov, who was acquired in the Brandon Saad trade, struggled in the opener (minus-2) but came through with a short-handed tally Friday. Two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith registered two assists against the Islanders and 6-8 Viktor Svedberg made his debut on the blue line for the Blackhawks, replacing David Rundblad. Corey Crawford played the first two games in net, which could give backup Scott Darling (.936 save percentage last season) his first start Saturday.
OVERTIME
1. Chicago RW Viktor Tikhonov played his first game in the NHL since 2008-09 with the Arizona Coyotes organization Friday.
2. New York’s fourth-line C Casey Cizikas recorded an assist, six hits and four takeaways in 11:41 of ice time Friday.
3. Four of the last seven games between the teams have gone to an extra session and the Blackhawks won three of those tiebreakers.