Bruins' Recchi wrecks short trip for Hawks

BOSTON - Mark Recchi needed only two games to fit in perfectly with the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins.

Recchi scored 2 goals in his second game for Boston, and the Bruins snapped a three-game winless streak Saturday with a 5-3 victory over the Blackhawks,

"They call him the wrecking ball for a reason," Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward said about Recchi, acquired from Tampa Bay on Wednesday. "It takes courage and bravery to do what he does. He gets in the dirty places and plays with grit."

The Hawks' third-period rally fell short after Kris Versteeg and Patrick Kane narrowed Boston's lead to 4-3. Versteeg beat Tim Thomas with a wrist shot at 10:26, and Kane fired a shot through a screen 4:08 later.

"We had a dangerous opponent and we knew after the loss to Phoenix they would be ready for this one," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We were lucky to get out of the first down only 1-0. We got ourselves back into the game a few times, but we couldn't finish."

David Krejci, Phil Kessel and P.J. Axelsson also scored to help Boston - which won for only the fourth time in 13 games - avoid tying its longest losing streak of the season.

"We played a team that's one of the better ones in the Western Conference," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "This is probably what we needed, this kind of challenge."

Jonathan Toews also scored for the Blackhawks, who lost for the fourth time in six games. Recchi opened the scoring, tipping the puck through goalie Cristobal Huet's pads at 10:19 of the first period.

Toews tied it during a stretch of 11 straight shots by the Blackhawks, notching his 27th of the season with 4:49 remaining in the second. Toews also assisted on Kane's goal and has 5 goals and 2 assists in his past four games.

Huet came into the game with a 10-3 record and 1.91 goals-against average in 14 career starts against the Bruins. He finished with 34 saves.