Hossa plays OT hero in Hawks' win over Oilers
After Marian Hossa buried a shot over the right shoulder of Calgary goaltender Karri Ramo on Sunday, it ended an eight-game, 28-day scoring drought for the Blackhawks' do-everything winger.
Hossa pumped his fist, thrilled about denting the net for just the second time this season.
In the postgame locker room, the man who has 489 career goals to his name told reporters that he understands what age is doing to his game and that he's not as hard on himself as he would have been five or 10 years ago.
"You know what, when I get older I deal with it a little bit easier than when I was younger," Hossa said. "It's not like at my age I'm going to win (the) scoring title or I'm going to score 20 or 30 goals."
Maybe not, but he buried the most important one Wednesday night in Edmonton when he hammered the game-winning shot home in a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory as the Hawks got their six-game road trip off on the right foot.
Brent Seabrook zipped a 120-foot pass to Hossa, who had just jumped on the ice for Artem Anisimov. Hossa then raced in all alone and fired the puck over Anders Nilsson's right shoulder with 3:52 on the clock.
"I saw Arty coming hard to change, and all of a sudden, when he was coming the puck was coming too," Hossa told Comcast SportsNet. "So I wanted to make sure there wasn't too many (men) on the ice. That was great timing. I got the puck and tried to use my speed and tried to just blast it in top corner."
Hossa wouldn't have even had a chance to notch the game-winner had it not been for Corey Crawford's miraculous save of a one-timer by Taylor Hall just 46 seconds earlier. Crawford, who finished with 34 saves, somehow gloved a shot that seemed destined for a wide-open net.
The Hawks' other goals came from Duncan Keith, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Shaw. Patrick Kane assisted on the first two goals, extending his points streak to a career-best 14 games.
Shaw's goal gave the Hawks a 3-2 lead with 8:16 to go in the game, but the determined Oilers tied it up once again with just 2:46 to go when Leon Draisaitl beat Crawford.
The Hawks, who did lose Teuvo Teravainen to an upper-body injury, improved to 11-7-1 overall and 3-5-0 on the road. Teravainen is considered day-to-day.
In his prime, Hossa was a point-a-game type of player, and sometimes more. The last three seasons, the numbers have tapered off a bit (going from .78 points per game in 2012-13 to .83 the next season to .74 last year). It's a small sample size, but in just 16 games this year, Hossa is averaging just .5 points per game.
Of course, as all Hawks fans know, looking solely at Hossa's offensive numbers is foolish considering what he brings from a defensive standpoint.
Few players in the league play a better two-way game than the rock-solid veteran of 1,382 games (including playoffs). Only once in the last seven seasons has Hossa failed to finish in the top 40 in plus-minus rating, and in four of those seven seasons, he was in the top 15.
"Even when he's not scoring or even maybe not having the production that he would like, he's such an effective player on both ends of the ice," Kane said. "He's a true professional. We love the way he shows up and plays every night."
Slapshots:
Patrick Kane now has an NHL-best 30 points this season. ... Artemi Panarin had 3 points Wednesday, giving him 21. He has a point in six straight games. ... Before Wednesday, Jonathan Toews shared the league lead with 245 faceoff wins and a 61.4 win percentage.
3-on-3 All-Star tournament:
The NHL will play a 3-on-3 All-Star tournament instead of a traditional All-Star game. The NHL and the players union announced the format change Wednesday for the Jan. 31 event in Nashville, Tennessee. Players will represent the Pacific, Central, Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions in the $1 million winner-take-all tournament that will have three 20-minute games.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.