CHICAGO — Dustin Byfuglien skated down the left side past defenseman Matt Gilroy and beat Henrik Lundqvist with 3:43 into overtime, giving the Chicago Blackhawks a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
The Blackhawks tied the game with 5:55 left in regulation on a power play — their fifth of the game — when Jonathan Toews chipped in a goal after a scrum in front of the net as Chicago finally got one past Lundqvist.
Christopher Higgins scored for Rangers in the first period and it appeared Lundqvist would shut out the Blackhawks. He finished with a season-high 39 saves.
The Blackhawks improved to 19-7-3. The Rangers lost for the fifth time in six games.
Marian Gaborik, the leading goal scorer in the NHL entering the game, made a nice pass from the right circle to Higgins in the left circle and he fired a hard wrist shot past Cristobal Huet, staking the Rangers to a 1-0 lead in the first.
Lundqvist made a nice save in the second period on Toews after he broke free from the right circle. Minutes later, he stopped a hard shot by Andrew Ladd from right in front. He then turned away four shot attempts on a Chicago power play and snuffed a close-range shot from Marian Hossa with 36 seconds to go in the second.
A high-sticking penalty on New York's Michal Rozsival with about 10 minutes left in regulation gave the Blackhawks their fourth power play, but again they couldn't convert as a long attempt by Brian Campbell was deflected, hit the crossbar and came down.
The Blackhawks peppered Lundqvist with 30 shots in the first two periods, while Huet faced just 15.
Huet finished with 17 saves.
Notes
D Wade Redden returned for the Rangers after missing five games because of a shoulder injury. LW Donald Brashear, out two games with a hand and wrist injury, was also back for New York. … The assist gave Gaborik 39 points. He entered the game two behind Joe Thornton for the league lead.