Blackhawks 4, Flames 2
Marian Hossa collected a power-play goal and an assist and Ray Emery turned aside 22 shots as the Chicago Blackhawks claimed the NHL's points lead with a 4-2 home triumph over the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
With the victory, Joel Quenneville became the 10th NHL coach to reach 600 victories. He reached the mark in 1,113 games - the second fastest in league history. Scotty Bowman, who serves as the team's adviser, did it in 1,002 contests.
Patrick Kane also tallied with the man advantage and defensemen Steve Montador and Niklas Hjalmarsson provided an unexpected scoring punch for Chicago, which won its season-high fifth in a row and improved to 9-1-1 in its last 11 games.
With the victory, the Blackhawks (21-8-4, 46 points) moved past the idle Minnesota Wild (20-8-5, 45 points) for the league's top mark.
All was not rosy for the host team, which saw blue-liner Brent Seabrook leave the game in the first period after being driven headfirst into the glass by former Blackhawk Rene Bourque. Seabrook did not return to the contest, while Bourque was handed a major penalty and a game misconduct.
After Montador opened the scoring midway through the first period by converting a feed from fourth-liner Jamal Mayers, Hjalmarsson doubled the advantage after a brilliant set up by Hossa for his first goal of the campaign.
Hossa gave Chicago a 4-1 lead by converting a 5-on-3 with 8:43 remaining in the third period to notch his 10th point on his current five-game point streak.
Olli Jokinen scored for the third straight game and Curtis Glencross added a power-play goal for Calgary, which finished its four-game road trip with a 0-3-1 mark.