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Sharp, Kane lift Blackhawks past Canucks

Oct 20, 2008 - 3:25 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Patrick Sharp recorded two goals and an assist as the Chicago Blackhawks made Joel Quenneville's home debut a successful one with a 4-2 triumph over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.

Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists and defenseman Brent Seabrook also tallied for Chicago, which suffered a 4-3 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday in Quenneville's first game as the team's coach. Quenneville replaced Denis Savard, who was fired as the Blackhawks' coach on Thursday - just four contests into the season.

"It was a tough day for me when (Savard) got fired," Kane said. "But it put some things in perspective for me. The worst is not the worst when you are playing bad hockey.

"(Quenneville) called me to his room when we got to St.Louis. He told me he knew I was close to Savvy and didn't want to take that away from me. But I think this move will be better for us and the Blackhawks in the long run. So far things have worked out for me and the team."

His teammates echoed his sentiments.

"Even after the shootout loss, we stayed positive," Sharp said. "It's a good feeling in the room right now - and we can't wait to play more games."

"When we score like we did tonight, you have to continue to ride the confidence," said Jonathan Toews, who assisted on Seabrook's tally. "I think the last two games, it's been good that coach Quenneville is letting us play and not to think too much."

Kris Versteeg notched two assists and Cristobal Huet finished with 28 saves to pick up his first win.

"That feels good, that is for sure," Huet said. "I tried to play my game and things worked out. They had a lot of shots from the outside and I could see them."

Pavol Demitra and Henrik Sedin scored and captain Roberto Luongo made 22 saves for Vancouver, which has lost three of its last four games.

"I like the way we played well tonight on both ends of the rink, I think we outchanced them 2-1," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "We just got a couple of bad bounces and put the puck in our own net on one of their power plays."

"I am not concerned for myself. When three of their four goals go in off your own guys, it's hard to put your head down there," Luongo said. "I felt good and unfortunately we are getting some bad breaks right now."

With Chicago nursing a 2-1 lead nearly seven minutes into the third period, Kane neatly tucked the puck just inside the right post for his fourth goal of the season - and third in his last two games.

"I thought he was real good the last two games," Quenneville said. "He has patience and a vision to recognize options quickly and he will be better as he grows."

Sharp gave the Blackhawks a three-goal bulge with 6:45 remaining before Sedin trimmed the deficit back to two just under two minutes later.

"Builds some confidence that is for sure," Sharp said of solving Luongo. "I knew we had to get some pops on him in traffic and go to the net hard."

Demitra opened the scoring just 9:32 into the first period. After Taylor Pyatt crushed Aaron Johnson behind the net to create a turnover, Ryan Kesler fed Mason Raymond at the top of the left faceoff circle. The defenseman alertly found Demitra, who blasted a shot past Huet for his second goal of the season.

Seabrook leveled the contest just 63 seconds later. The blue-liner received a feed from Kane at the top of the right faceoff circle and fired a one-timer which beat a thoroughly screened Luongo for his first tally of the campaign.

Sharp gave Chicago a 2-1 advantage nearly five minutes later. With his team on the power play, Sharp attempted a cross-crease pass to Versteeg, but the puck deflected off defenseman Mattias Ohlund's stick and into the net.