The Chicago Blackhawks rode a big third period to defeat the New York Rangers 6-3 on Wednesday night, and Artem Anisimov was the catalyst.
The 29-year-old scored a hat trick in the final period to lead Chicago to the victory, with all three of his goals coming at key times for the Blackhawks.
With the teams deadlocked at 1-1 after 40 minutes of play, Anisimov scored the first goal of the third period to break the stalemate. At 1:07 of the period, Anisimov knocked a Patrick Kane pass into the net to give the Blackhawks the lead for the first time in Monday contest. It's a lead they would never relinquish.
Less than a minute later, John Hayden scored to give Chicago the two-goal lead. With the Blackhawks up 3-1, Anisimov then found the back of the net for the second time of the night just over five minutes into the third period.
An opportunistic power play goal, it would eventually stand up as the game-winner.
At that point, the Blackhawks appeared to be cruising to a relatively easy victory. However, the Rangers managed to score twice in quick succession to pull back to within one goal.
Enter Anisimov.
The Russian closed the door on any potential Rangers comeback when he chipped a Nick Schmaltz pass over Ondrej Pavelec to complete the hat trick.
Anisimov has nine goals and two assists in 19 games so far this season.