COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Martin Havlat had a goal and two assists Sunday afternoon, as the Chicago Blackhawks beat Columbus, 5-4.
Patrick Sharp, Bryan Smolinski, Martin Lapointe and Peter Bondra also scored, and Nikolai Khabibulin made 24 saves on 28 shots for the Blackhawks, who won for the third time in their last four games.
Anson Carter had a goal and an assist, and Ron Hainsey, Alexander Svitov and David Vyborny also scored for the Blue Jackets, who lost their fourth out of five.
Fredrik Norrena yielded three goals on 11 shots, and then was pulled for Pascal Leclaire late in the first period. Leclaire finished with 15 saves.
The game was scoreless midway through the first period when the Blackhawks erupted for three goals in a span of 3:28.
Sharp scored first, picking up a rebound and firing it into an open net at 9:00 of the first. Just over a minute later, Tuomo Ruutu fed Smolinski for a power-play goal -- and less than three minutes after that Havlat skated through the Blue Jackets defense and faked Norrena out of the crease before firing the puck into an empty net.
