Blackhawks beat Canucks in shootout

It says a lot about the top-end scoring depth of the Blackhawks that in their first shootout of the season Wednesday night, Marian Hossa the NHL's leading scorer coming into the game never got a chance.

“I think he was coming up soon,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville joked after watching his top three picks, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane, each beat Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo in the shootout for a 2-1 win at the United Center.

“We have great shooters in these type of things and all three guys scored so we have to wait for my turn,” Hossa said.

The goals by Sharp and Kane trickled over the goal line after it appeared Luongo had made the save.

After Kane's goal in the third round, Vancouver's Mikael Samuelsson missed the net on a chance to extend the shootout.

Hawks goalie Marty Turco was beaten twice in the shootout but made 36 saves before that, including 8 in overtime.

“It felt pretty good most of the night,” Turco said. “Got to work on the shootout, I guess. You kind of feel like you get bailed out there by the boys scoring 3. That's a great sight to see, but more than anything it was just a solid game all the way around against a hungry, aggressive team that had a lot to play for tonight.”

Luongo made 31 saves, but there wasn't a lot of traffic around him.

“Tonight we didn't generate enough opportunities in front of him,” Quenneville said. “We weren't shooting as much as we would have liked.”

The Hawks got a nice game from the fourth line of Viktor Stalberg, Jack Skille and Jake Dowell, who provided energy and the game's first goal from Stalberg.

Stalberg got the Hawks on the scoreboard first at 19:22 of the first period when he took a pass from Dowell in the slot and roofed a shot past Luongo.

“I thought Jack had speed and Vik had another great chance after he scored,” Quenneville said. “If you look at different energy lines around the league, that line with their high-end speed could be as quick as there is.”

The Hawks held the lead until one minute into the third period when Daniel Sedin scored on a power play off a scramble in front.

Midway through overtime, Luongo made the save of the night when he stopped Hossa on a breakaway.

“I tried to get the puck settled because it was the end of the period and the puck kept rolling,” Hossa said. “When I settled it I was too far in front of him. I tried to shoot low blocker and it didn't work.”

Luongo got the start despite being pulled from Tuesday's 6-2 loss at Minnesota after allowing 6 goals in 18 shots.

Luongo is having a tough start to the season. He had surrendered 10 goals in his last two starts prior to Wednesday and brought an .888 save percentage to the UC, but Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said the decision to comeback with his No. 1 goalie was easy.

“Roberto is an elite goaltender, an experienced guy who wants to win,” Vigneault said. “I knew he was going to have a good game and he did.”

Even though Hossa didn't score he was one of the best players on the ice again.

“He's got everything going for him: speed, skill, size, strength, good vision and he competes on both sides of the puck,” Quenneville said. “He's always been an elite player and he is at that place right now.”

Tim Sassone's game tracker

Blackhawks 2, Canucks 1 (SO)

<B>Three stars</B>

1. Marty Turco, Hawks: Made 36 saves, including 8 in overtime.

2. Roberto Luongo, Canucks: Kept his team in it with some big saves, one on Marian Hossa's breakaway in OT.

3. Patrick Kane, Hawks: Scored the deciding goal in the shootout.

<B>By the numbers</B>

The Hawks have won four in a row and are 5-2-1 for 11 points after eight games.