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  Sunday, Oct. 10 8:00pm ET
Krivokrasov salvages tie for Predators
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

CHICAGO (AP) -- Both the Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators were looking for their first wins of the season Sunday night. They'll be looking a little longer.

Sergei Krivokrasov scored on a screened shot from the slot with 1:32 left in the third period as the Predators tied the Blackhawks 3-3, earning their first point of the season.

Rob Valicevic, Steve Passmore
Chicago goalie Steve Passmore makes a stop on Nashville's Rob Valicevic Sunday.
"When we started skating, they couldn't handle us," said Krivokrasov, a former Blackhawks forward who was the team's first draft choice seven years ago. "We can play against any team, especially against Chicago."

Despite jumping ahead 2-0 by 1:13 of the second period on goals by Alex Zhamnov and Josef Marha, the Blackhawks blew a two-goal lead for the second straight game and settled for a second straight tie after opening with two straight losses.

Nashville's Kimmo Timonen and Tom Fitzgerald scored to make it 2-2 midway through the third period. Chicago regained a 3-2 lead with 3:15 left in regulation on Tony Amonte's tip-in.

Then Krivokrasov lifted Nashville, which lost its previous two games, to a 3-3 tie on a 35-foot shot, fired through traffic from the slot.

"It just went off (defenseman Sylvain Cote's) leg," said Chicago goaltender Steve Passmore, who made his first start with the Blackhawks after signing as a free agent last summer. "It was just a bad bounce. I saw it change direction before it got to me.

"A point's a point, but it would have been nice to get a win and get the monkey off our backs," he added.

Defensive lapses cost the Blackhawks again, especially on Krivokrasov's goal.

"It's a case right there where we give the other team too much time in our zone," Chicago coach Lorne Molleken said.

Meanwhile, Nashville coach Barry Trotz was more upbeat.

"There were a lot of positives," he said. "We were down a couple of goals and came back to tie it. They score late and we come back and score right away."

Zhamnov opened the scoring at 5:53 of the first period on a high, screened wrist shot from the right circle.

Marha made it 2-0 at 1:13 of the second period when his shot from the slot deflected past Nashville goaltender Tomas Vokoun. Timonen, who slipped to the edge of the Chicago crease, cut the Blackhawks' lead to 2-1 at 6:57 by lifting a feed from Vitali Yachmenev over Passmore's shoulder.

Fitzgerald tied it at 9:32 of the third period when he was set up by Greg Johnson and cruised in alone from the right circle.

Amonte made it 3-2 when Zhamnov pounced on a Nashville turnover and fed him with a cross-crease pass.

Vokoun made 25 saves as Chicago went 0-for-5 on the power play. Nashville missed on all four power-play chances, as each team failed on one man advantage opportunity in overtime.

 


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