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Lang, Sharp buoy Blackhawks

Dec 20, 2007 - 5:47 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Robert Lang and Patrick Sharp scored two goals apiece and Martin Havlat had three assists to propel the Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday.

Dustin Byfuglien also scored for Chicago, which moved into a three-way tie with the St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets for second place in the Central Division.

The Blackhawks also received immediate contributions from their two newest members, Petri Kontiola and Ben Eager.

"It was nice to get contributions right away from the new guys," Blackhawks coach Denis Savard said. "Overall, I thought we played hard against a quality opponent."

Kontiola, who was recalled from Rockford on Tuesday, assisted on Lang's first goal just over three minutes into the first period.

"It's nice to help out right away," Kontiola said. "I didn't have to do much though except keep up with the play, Marty made the nice pass to Robert and he put it in."

Kontiola fed Havlat as he headed for the net, and after circling behind the goal, Havlat spotted Lang in front. Lang sent a one-timer past goaltender Chris Mason to give Chicago a quick 1-0 advantage.

"Marty set up the goal with a great play behind the net," Lang said. "I was just surprised how open I was, and that I had time to pick a spot to shoot at."

Eager, who was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in a trade Tuesday, assisted on Byfuglien's goal just over two minutes later.

"It was nice to see Ben get a point right away," Sharp said of his former teammate when they both played for the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League. "We are happy to have him here, he will work hard every night."

The tally forced Mason from the game after surrendering two goals on two shots. He was replaced by Dan Ellis, who finished with 24 saves.

"I didn't want to take a timeout at that point but I had to switch goalies," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "It was 2-0 already and I had to get everybody's attention. It was a flat start and our coverage was non-existent."

Sharp increased Chicago's lead to 3-0 when he scored his league-leading sixth shorthanded goal midway through the first period.

"I don't know what it is with my success on shorthanders," Sharp said. "I wanted to shoot the puck down the ice and kill some time, the play just developed where I could take a hard shot and it went in."

Lang extended the bulge to four goals after one-timing Havlat's pass past Ellis just over three minutes into the second period.

"Robert made it easy by getting open," Havlat said. "He was in the right spot all night long, he played a great game."

Nashville caught a break just 30 seconds later after Yanic Perreault was given a four-minute high-sticking penalty.

The Predators took full advantage of the double minor, as J.P. Dumont and Radek Bonk scored 70 seconds apart to halve the deficit at 4-2.

"We did some good things on the power play," Dumont said. "At that point, we seemed to finally get our legs going, then their power-play goal broke our back."

Sharp scored his second goal of the game with 65 seconds remaining in the second period to cap the scoring.

Nikolai Khabibulin finished with 19 saves for the Blackhawks.