It was a historic night Thursday at the United Center.
Defenseman Artyom Levshunov scored 1 minute, 37 seconds into overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 4-3 win against the Winnipeg Jets. It was the first game-winning goal of Levshunov’s career and gave the Hawks (3-5-0) their first back-to-back victories of the season.
Center Connor Bedard, in his second game back after missing the first six of the season recovering from shoulder surgery, scored on a power play for his first goal of the season and first as Hawks captain.
And Patrick Kane’s assist on Bedard’s opening goal gave him the most for an American-born player in NHL history, passing Hall of Famer Phil Housley. Kane added an assist Levshunov’s winning goal, giving him 896 in his 20th season.
“Good goal by me,” Levshunov, 20, said.
After the game-winner, Levshunov leaped toward Kane in celebration. That gave the 37-year-old flashbacks — for better or worse.
“I was hoping nobody noticed me kind of backing off him,” Kane smiled. “You see a truck like that coming in, obviously, I’m not going to try and catch him. I actually remember back in the day, (Brent) Seabrook scored an overtime winner against Nashville in the playoffs, and I tried to pick him up, and (it) wasn’t happening.”
On a first-period power play, the Hawks had a 5-on-3 advantage after separate penalties from Jets defensemen Jack St. Ivany and Mario Ferraro. Kane eventually found Bedard, who scored to put Hawks up 1-0 at the 8:11 mark.
“My dad grew up watching (Phil Housley), and my dad wore No. 6 when he was younger,” Kane said. “Housley wore No. 6 for the Sabres, so I’ve gotten to know him over the years through different USA stuff, always a guy I looked up to. I guess you play long enough, you get the opportunities to achieve things like this, so it’s pretty special.”
Added coach Jeff Blashill: “I’m a huge Patrick Kane fan for what he’s done for the sport and the U.S. and how much it’s meant to so many Americans. I can speak of my own son, Teddy, who’s 20 years old now, and that was his hero coming up. He’s been a special, special player in this sport and deserves every accolade he gets because of what he’s done but also who he is.”
With that first-period connection, Kane and Bedard became just the second pair of No. 1 picks drafted 15-plus years apart by the same franchise to factor on a goal. The first was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Corsby and Mario Lemieux, who did it eight times in the 2005-06 season.
Tyler Bertuzzi had the secondary assist on the goal, the 200th of his career.
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After the ovation from the crowd of 15,028 ended and the confetti cleared following Kane’s record-setting assist, the Hawks didn’t let up. Frank Nazar scored on a wrist shot at 15:10 in his first game back from a two-game suspension. And after Neal Pionk’s goal at 16:57 trimmed the Jets’ deficit, Ryan Donato answered 14 seconds later to make it 3-1 after one. The Hawks outshot the Jets 14-8 in the opening 20 minutes.
The second period was a different story. The Jets (4-1-2) outshot the Hawks 13-6, and left wing Kyle Connor’s eighth goal of the season at 4:44 cut the Hawks’ lead to one.
An equally sloppy Hawks third period — and an Alex Iafallo goal — left the game tied 3-3 after 60 minutes. The Jets outshot the Hawks 25-12 in the final 40 minutes of regulation.
“Back to back games, we can’t keep giving up those leads,” Bedard said. “We don’t always want to be scoring a late goal or going to OT, but just the resilience. We’re a young team and that can rattle you, but our whole bench — after that 3-3 goal — was energetic. We believe in ourselves, we believe we’re going to win the game.”
The Hawks had longed for Bedard’s return, hoping to weather the storm without their young star but going 0-5-1 in his absence. They’ve been a different team with the captain back on the ice.
With four more games on the seven-game homestand, they have an opportunity to change the trajectory of the season.
“For (Bedard) to get back after six games I think was huge and changed the dynamic around the room,” Kane said. “Winning a couple in a row, getting back to 3-5, all of a sudden we’re feeling good. We got a little momentum, a little bit of a homestand here, and we can try to keep it rolling.”