Kris Versteeg

Andrew Ladd scored on a high shot in the ninth round of the shootout to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night in their home opener. Jonathan Toews, Kris Versteeg and Tomas Kopecky also connected in the shootout to help Chicago improve to 2-1-1. Milan Hejduk, Marek Svatos and Darcy Tucker scored in the shootout for Colorado, also 2-1-1. Cam Barker, John Madden and Duncan Keith scored in regulation for Chicago. Madden's goal was his first with Chicago after signing as a free agent from New Jersey. Matt Hendricks, Wojtek Wolski and Hejduk scored in regulation for ... Read Full Story

The Chicago Blackhawks used three power-play goals to beat the Florida Panthers 4-0 Saturday after losing the season opener the previous day in a shootout. Pleasing the crowd of 12,000, Chicago played Antti Niemi, a Finnish goalkeeper, in place of Cristobal Huet, and stopped 23 shots. Brian Campbell, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien got the goals. Campbell scored 3:05 into the match with Finn Ville Koistinen, the star in Friday's Florida win, off for interference. Kane pounced on a rebound from Sharp's shot in the second period. Sharp's goal was set up by Kris Versteeg. Campbell fired low from the point, with ... Read Full Story

Kris Versteeg beat fellow rookie star Steve Mason on a breakaway at 3:10 of overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 1-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night. Versteeg ended it with his 22nd goal of the season moments after Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin stopped Kris Russell on a breakaway. Khabibulin made 20 saves for his second shutout of the season. Mason stopped 24 shots for the Blue Jackets. A day after clinching a playoff spot for the first time in seven years, the Blackhawks ran their winning streak to three and snapped a season-high five-game road losing streak. Chicago also moved ... Read Full Story

The Chicago Blackhawks have agreed to terms with left wing Kris Versteeg on a three-year contract. The 23-year-old led all rookies last season with 31 assists while ranking second with 53 points. He was fourth among first-year players with 22 goals, earning him a nomination for the 2009 Calder Trophy. Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon said in a statement that Versteeg is "part of a core of young players that is going to make this franchise successful for a long time." Versteeg, who made the NHL's All-Rookie Team but didn't play because of an injury, finished third in the league with seven short-handed points. ... Read Full Story

Chicago ran the streak to 6-1-3 with a 5-2 victory and left Alberta 2-0 for the trip. Again. When a team can blow out the opposition like that, the temptation is to pigeonhole the Hawks as a squadron of gunners, what with Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien and others able to light it up. It gets worse for NHL opponents, presumably, considering the fact that free-agent sniper Marian Hossa is set to make his Blackhawks debut next week after recovering from off-season surgery. But the young Hawks aren’t one-way offensive divas; far from it. They’re defensively responsible, ranked third ... Read Full Story