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CHICAGO -- Ryan Hartman scored a natural hat trick in the third period, including the final two into an empty net, to help the Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-2 win against the Nashville Predators at United Center on Sunday.
Hartman's first goal broke a 2-2 tie with 8:11 left. The next two were scored with Predators goalie Pekka Rinne on the bench for an extra attacker.

Artemi Panarin and Niklas Hjalmarsson scored goals for Chicago (26-12-5), which has won three in a row. Patrick Kane had his 10th multi-point game of the season with three assists. Corey Crawford made 25 saves for his 15th win.
WATCH: All Predators vs. Blackhawks highlights
"It's not really how you draw it up, but they count," said Hartman said of his final two goals, which he scored at 18:46 and 19:28. "I don't think anyone is going to remember that in a couple days."
Austin Watson made it 2-2 at 2:01 of the third for the Predators (17-16-7), but Hartman put Chicago back in front with his first goal. It withstood a video review that determined the puck hit his left hand and crossed the goal line before the net was dislodged.
"It didn't have to do with the net [coming off] for me," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "It had to do with whether or not he took his hand off his stick and batted it into the net. It was difficult to tell, but certainly there was that motion that he did it. I guess you can't tell in the end whether or not he actually hit it."
Mattias Ekholm scored and Mike Fisher had two assists for Nashville, which got 26 saves from Rinne.
Chicago led 2-1 on goals by Panarin and Hjalmarsson after a first period that had 13 combined shots.
Panarin made it 1-0 at 7:45 on a one-timer from the left wing, and Hjalmarsson put the Blackhawks up 2-1 at 14:04 with a shot from the blue line for his NHL career-high fifth goal of the season.
Ekholm tied it 1-1 at 8:30 for Nashville, 45 seconds after Panarin's goal.
After going 1-4-1, the Blackhawks have defeated the Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes and Predators to begin a four-game homestand.
"Big comeback win against Buffalo, kind of hung on there against Carolina and then you find yourself 2-2 in the third [against Nashville]," Kane said. "It's nice to get that third one and kind of build off of that."

Goal of the game

Hartman's goal came seconds after Panik made a high-skill play in front of the net by shooting the first of two attempts between his legs. His second attempt sent the puck in the air, where it hit Hartman for the goal. "[Panik] made a good play at the net, and I don't really know how it came to me, but I was trying to get to the net and I just felt it go off my hip," Hartman said. "So, a lucky one."

Save of the game

Panarin had a chance to give the Blackhawks a two-goal lead late in the second period, but Rinne kept the score 2-1 with a sprawling left pad save with 1:56 left.

Unsung performance of the game

Artem Anisimov finished provided a great screen of Rinne on Hjalmarsson's goal in the first period. He finished with a plus-2 rating in 17:49 of ice time.

Highlight of the game

Panarin's goal in the first came off Kane's feed and was scored with a one-timer from outside the left faceoff circle. "That's one of the better shots you'll see, ever," Kane said. "His backside might've been touching the boards. What an amazing shot."

They said it

"Like anything in life, I guess, if you dwell on stuff and wake up each morning worrying about the past, that's not going to do you any good. Obviously, it's frustrating at the moment, right now, but [Monday] is a new day." -- Predators center Ryan Johansen
"[Kane] came up to me and said, 'You got two tonight?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'All right. I'm going to get it to you.' He did." -- Blackhawks forward Ryan Hartman
"It was a skating race with [their] guy and the puck was going straight to the net, so my first thought was, 'I can't take this from him.'" -- Blackhawks forward Richard Panik on not touching a puck shot by Ryan Hartman

Need to know

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville coached his 1,500th NHL regular-season game. … The Predators played without three injured forwards: James Neal (upper body), Viktor Arvidsson (upper body) and Colin Wilson (lower body). … Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban (upper body) missed his 11th straight game. … The Blackhawks are second in the NHL with 16 home victories.

What's next

Predators:Host the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, SNP,
NHL.TV
)
Blackhawks: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; WGN, FS-D,
NHL.TV
)