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Havlat, Lalime help Blackhawks end losing streak

Mar 31, 2007 - 6:29 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- With the help of Martin Havlat, the Chicago Blackhawks' six-game losing streak is a thing of the past.

Havlat had a goal and an assist and defenseman Brent Seabrook set up all three tallies as the Blackhawks skated to a 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Patrick Sharp and Martin Lapointe also scored for Chicago, which ended its fourth slide of five games or more this season. The Blackhawks also have endured losing streaks of eight, 10 and five contests.

"It feels good to get a win, and to do it at home for our fans," Havlat said.

Sharp jammed in a rebound from the doorstep with 5:05 left in the first period to open the scoring, and Havlat doubled the lead just 21 seconds later for his first goal in 14 games.

Rene Bourque carried the puck into the offensive zone and stopped above the right faceoff circle before feeding Havlat, whose shot from the slot beat screened goaltender Brian Boucher for his 25th of the season.

"I have been getting chances but just not scoring," Havlat said. "I am happy to score, but I am more excited about the win."

"We didn't do the things we needed to do, and the turnovers cost us," Columbus' Jason Chimera said. "You can't do that against Havlat's line. We did, and the puck got buried. We were behind the eight-ball right away, and that put us in a hole."

Chicago made it 3-0 while shorthanded midway through the second. With 8:48 to go in the session, Denis Arkhipov stole the puck in his own zone and dished to Lapointe, who beat Boucher to the glove side for his 13th goal.

"All Chicago did was sit in a defensive posture," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They played harder in their own end, which led to odd-man rushes. Their tenacity in their own end was greater than ours to score."

Patrick Lalime stopped 31 shots for the Blackhawks, who concluded the season series against the Blue Jackets with a 4-3-1 record.

"Our best players stepped up and played well," Blackhawks coach Denis Savard said. "Columbus came back at us hard, so it was a good win."

Chimera tallied and Boucher - who began the season with Chicago - made 22 saves for Columbus, which has lost two straight following a four-game winning streak.

"I'm disappointed, it's obviously a game I wanted to win," Boucher said. "I didn't get it done, so it's a downer."