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Crawford helps Chicago down Edmonton

Feb 10, 2011 - 7:55 AM Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) - Corey Crawford made 23 saves and Patrick Kane scored twice to help the Chicago Blackhawks claim a 4-1 victory against the struggling Edmonton Oilers.

Bryan Bickell and Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks, who had dropped four of their last five. But Chicago has had success in Edmonton recently, and won there for the sixth consecutive time.

"Good to get a win. We needed that one, obviously," said Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews. "Still a lot of things we need to get better at. We did some good things tonight. Once we get our power play going and we get some bounces going our way, we can maybe open some games up and get a little more confidence in the offensive zone."

Devan Dubnyk allowed three goals on 25 shots for the Oilers, who were coming off Monday's victory in Nashville, but failed to turn that result into a winning streak.

Edmonton has dropped 10 of its last 12, and hasn't recorded back-to-back victories since early December.

"Games that we come out and we're ready to play right off the bat, we're in every game," said Oilers forward Shawn Horcoff. "We might not always win, but we're right there and we have a chance to. That wasn't the case tonight."

The Blackhawks took control by scoring the game's first three goals.

Just past the midway point of the first period, the teams held a faceoff in the right circle in Edmonton's end. Chicago fought for control in the corner and, eventually, Toews got the puck. He quickly passed to the slot for Sharp, who beat Dubnyk to put the Blackhawks on the board.

An Oilers error led to Chicago's second goal, which came at the 5:14 mark of the second period.

With the puck along the left boards in Chicago's zone, Taylor Hall backhanded it to the point, but defenseman Jeff Petry was in the neutral zone and whiffed when he tried to dump it back in the zone. That allowed Bickell to race up-ice on a solo breakaway and slide a backhander past Dubnyk.

Kane's power-play one-timer from the inside edge of the right circle made it a 3-0 game at 4:15 of the third period.

Jordan Eberle got Edmonton's only goal with 3:40 left in the game, but it was too little, too late for the Oilers. Kane added Chicago's final score in the final minute.

Game Notes

The Oilers opened a six-game homestand, during which they will also play Ottawa, Anaheim, Dallas, Montreal, and Atlanta...Edmonton forward Andrew Cogliano played in his 300th NHL game...On Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks acquired forward Michael Frolik from the Florida Panthers as part of a five- player trade. The Blackhawks also acquired goaltender Alexander Salak, and sent forwards Jack Skille, Hugh Jessiman, and David Pacan to the Panthers.