ARNASON WAKES UP, HAWKS WIN IN OT
| Rangers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| HAWKS | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Tyler Arnason scored a power-play goal 1:20 into overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
With Martin Rucinsky serving a double minor for high-sticking, Arnason drove to the net and fired a shot between the legs of goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
Chicago counterpart Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 30 shots, including many prime, close-in chances in the second and third periods. Lundqvist finished with 17 saves.
New York's Petr Prucha and Chicago's Jaroslav Spacek had the only goals in regulation, scoring 18 seconds apart midway through the second period.
The Rangers were hurt by their power play, failing on all nine chances. Chicago was 1-for 4.
Patrick Sharp, acquired from Philadelphia on Monday, played his first game with the Blackhawks. He skated on a line with Tyler Arnason and Rene Bourque.
Neither team generated sustained offensive pressure in a scoreless first period.
The Rangers enjoyed 3:49 of consecutive power-play time late in the first, but had only one good chance during the span when Steve Rucchin hit the right post.
Sharp had a point-blank chance with 3 minutes left in the period, but was stopped by Lundqvist.
Prucha opened the scoring at 8:53 of the second.
Pressured by New York's Michael Nylander along the right wing boards, Chicago defenseman Jim Vandermeer passed the puck onto Prucha's stick just inside the Blackhawks blue line. Prucha cruised in alone and fired a shot past Khabibulin.
Spacek tied it 1-all just seconds later. Trailing in late on a rush, Spacek took Matthew Barnaby's cross-ice feed and beat Lundqvist from the left circle.
Khabibulin used a right pad save to stop New York's Ryan Hollweg on a breakaway with 7:45 left in the second.
The Rangers then wasted a four-minute power play late in the period when Khabibulin was given a double minor for slashing and roughing New York's Jason Ward.
Khabibulin stopped Prucha's point-blank chance 3:10 into the third after Prucha slipped around the Chicago defense.
He stopped Prucha again and Ward on close-in chances about 8 minutes into the third. With 6:09 left in regulation, Khabibulin made a point-blank toe save on Tom Poti.