Chicago edges Islanders, 4-3, in OT Jones hits winner in extra time

In Chicago, the Blackhawks blew a two-goal lead to the visiting New York Islanders on Friday night.Seth Jones bailed the Hawks out with 22 seconds gone in extra time to give Chicago a 4-3 win.

It was Jones’ first marker of the campaign.

“Yeah, that’s probably the biggest drought I’ve been in,” Jones said. “Nothing was going in, but it’s nice that I remember how to score. Put the puck to the net, and good things happen. I was in shock. I was like, ‘Wow, one actually went in, went in the back of the net.’ It’s a great feeling.”

Chicago improved to 14-30-2.

Petr Mrazek made 26 saves in the win.

Trailing 3-1 in the third, the Islanders rallied on two goals.

Bo Horvat trimmed the deficit to 3-2 at 6:38 on a shot from the left side.

“We have no choice but to start winning some hockey games,” Horvat said. “We’re in a little bit of a lull here, lots of hockey left to be played, but we have to put it together quick or we’re going to see ourselves keep dropping in the standings. It starts with me, it starts with our top guys being better, and we’ve got to be better here going down the stretch.”

Kyle Palmieri potted a goal at 12:50 to tie it, 3-3, and force extra time.

New York had taken a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza on a goal from Brock Nelson at 6:09 of the first period.

The Isles dropped to 19-15-1 off their fourth straight loss.

“I don’t feel the team’s anywhere near where it can be or should be,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “We have some players on the team we clearly need more from.

“Clearly, it took us awhile to get our legs going. Once we did, I thought we generated a fair amount. And we were fine, and then we make a couple of mistakes as we’ve done at times this year when we’ve lost hockey games. We end up giving up goals and what turns out to be a pretty good second period turns out to be a terrible second period in a short, short time.”

The score stayed 1-0 until Boris Katchouk hit for Chicago at 18:07 of the middle frame for a 1-1 tie.

Joey Anderson put the Blackhawks in front, 2-1, with 46 seconds left in the second for a 2-1 lead.

“It’s exciting,” Anderson said. “Anytime you can score in this league, it’s pretty cool. I had a couple chances a couple games ago I would have liked to maybe drop, so it gets a little frustrating. [Blackwell and Dickinson] made great plays to set that one up. I made sure to put it in the net. Hopefully that can lead to some more opportunities like that and finishing chances we get.”

Chicago took their 3-1 lead at 5:10 of the third period on a strike by Jason Dickinson

Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves in the loss.

“There’s leadership in that room,” Lambert said. “We’ve got guys who need to play better. The jolt needs to come from within.”