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Blackhawks' third-period surge sinks Blues

Jan 3, 2007 - 6:28 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Martin Havlat has been quiet lately, but he started an eruption that led the Chicago Blackhawks to a victory.

Havlat scored early in the third period to start a spurt of three goals in 3:23 as the Blackhawks coasted to a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues.

Chicago won for only the second time in its last five games while the Blues had their three-game win streak snapped.

"We have been doing a lot of good things the last two weeks, but we made some mistakes in the third period that really cost us," St. Louis right wing Dallas Drake said.

Havlat, who entered with only two assists in his last five games, has 13 goals and 13 assists in 20 games this season.

The right wing tied the game, 1-1, at 6:15 of the third period when he beat St. Louis goaltender Manny Legace from the slot with a backhand.

"It happened very quickly," Havlat said. "I was moving the other way from the goalie and it was a great pass from (Radim Vrbata)."

Peter Bondra scored his 501st career goal at 7:14 and Jeff Hamilton tallied at 9:38 to give the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead.

"That we stayed out of the penalty box was the most important thing," Havlat said of the third period. "In the first two periods, it was like they had a power-play practice. We looked stupid on those plays, then in the third, we stayed out of the box."

The Blackhawks killed eight of nine St. Louis power-play opportunities.

"We have to be a little bit smarter," Chicago goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin said. "We can't give a team like that that many power-play chances."

Havlat, who entered with only two assists in his last five games, has 13 goals and 13 assists in 20 games this season.

Khabibulin finished with 38 saves for Chicago, which improved to 10-5-3 since Denis Savard took over as coach on November 27.

"He was standing on his head left, right and center," said Legace, who finished with 22 saves. "He had a great game, and we couldn't buy a goal."

St. Louis' Keith Tkachuk scored his third goal in as many games for the Blues.