COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ben Smith had the closest look and he likened it to mayhem. Antti Raanta had the worst view on the ice and to him it was a thing of beauty. Smith tapped in a rebound with 3.7 seconds left on a wild scrum to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. With time running out, Duncan Keith threw the puck on net and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky blocked it with his arm but it popped out of his reach. While he and two teammates scrambled to get to the loose puck, Smith got a stick on it and pushed it into the net. "(Keith) is so good at getting pucks through -- that first shot almost went in. I dont think he saw it," Smith said of Bobrovsky. "It was just kind of a mad scramble in front with people going to the net. Somehow, the puck found its way in." When the official pointed to the puck to signify the goal was good, it touched off a wild celebration from a large throng of Chicago fans in the capacity crowd. It also deflated the playoff hopes of the Blue Jackets, not to mention the thousands of their fans in a crowd of 18,695. "We came up 3 seconds short," said Columbus defenceman Dalton Prout, part of the pile of players trying to clear the puck as time sifted away. At the far end of the rink, Raanta, giving front-line netminder Corey Crawford a night off by making 24 saves, flashed a wide smile when Smiths inside work paid off. "You can imagine how that feels when there is only 3 seconds on the clock and we score the winning goal," he said. "The feeling was very, very nice." Jeremy Morin, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa also had goals for Chicago, while Keith had three assists. The reigning Stanley Cup champions have already locked up their sixth straight playoff appearance. But they had dropped three games in a row and were without superstar forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, both sidelined with injuries, heading into a home game with Minnesota on Thursday night. But a shootout win before the home crowd and then the late victory in Columbus -- against a team desperate for points in something akin to playoff conditions -- has brightened the picture even more for the Blackhawks. "You play the right way and you give yourself a chance," coach Joel Quenneville said. "You get balance and you keep yourself mentally aware of what you need to do, play the team system and everybody complements each other. The last two wins are very exciting from where we were just a couple of days ago." Columbus started the night with a tenuous grasp on the second wild-card spot in the East. But with games running out -- and opportunities for points slipping away -- all of the Blue Jackets realized how costly the late goal could end up being. "Its a tough one to swallow, but we have to move on," said Matt Calvert, also in the midst of the scrum at the end. Derek MacKenzie, Ryan Johansen and Artem Anisimov scored for Columbus and Bobrovsky had 34 saves. The Blue Jackets fell to 0-10-3 in their last 13 meetings with the Blackhawks. Midway through the third with the game tied at 3, Raanta made the stop of the game after Calvert intercepted a pass and zoomed in all alone. Raanta deflected his shot and the game remained tied. Bobrovsky then stopped a blast by Bryan Bickell and smothered Morins shot from his knees in the slot with less than 5 minutes remaining. Then came the wild finish after both teams had seemed content to get to overtime with a point. But Smith, at the edge of the goal cage, was able to get to the puck after Prout and Calvert were unable to clear it and Bobrovsky couldnt fall on it. "I went in and told the players, Its a hard loss but weve got to move past it," Columbus coach Todd Richards said. "You cant let your highs get too high. And right now we cant let the lows get too low. This group has been pretty resilient all year. Theres been times all year when people have counted us out and the guys have responded." NOTES: Blue Jackets D David Savard played in his 100th NHL game. ... Chicago returns home for games with St. Louis and Montreal before closing out the regular season at Washington and Nashville. ... Columbus opened a three-game homestand, then ends the regular season with three on the road. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale . The alley-oop looked easy -- just like everything else after halftime for the Miami Heat. James scored 32 points, Wade added 22 points and eight assists, and the Heat trailed by 11 early in the second half before running away to a 107-88 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . -- The Detroit Pistons are still one of the worst fourth-quarter teams in the NBA. http://www.jerseysnflwholesalecheap.us.com/ . Petkovic saved a match point to upset Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2, and No. 9-ranked Kerber overcame Daniela Hantuchova 7-6 (9), 6-1. Germany needs one more win to advance to the semifinal to face Australia or Russia in April. Wholesale Jerseys China . - Dax McCartys goal in the 21st minute lifted the New York Red Bulls to a 1-1 tie with the Chicago Fire on Sunday.The Anaheim Ducks have captured top spot in the TSN.ca NHL Power Rankings, finally overtaking the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks, who rank second and third this week. Winning 19 of their past 21 games has vaulted the Ducks all the way up chart after being ranked 11th six week ago. The Carolina Hurricanes got a personnel bump this week, from 20 to 15, with the return from injury of centre Eric Staal, and continued strong play from goaltender Anton Khudobin, filling in for an injured Cam Ward. Lockdown defence in Paul Maurices first three games behind the bench, along with the pending return of left winger Evander Kane, brought the Winnipeg Jets up from 24 to 20, while the New Jersey Devils climb from 25 to 21, losing once in regulation in the past six games and getting left winger Patrik Elias back in the lineup. The Washington Capitals are reeling, having lost fivee straight, and fall from 11 to 16, while the Dallas Stars have it even worse, dropping eight of nine to fall from 18 to 24.dddddddddddd Among the other Canadian teams, the slumping Vancouver Canucks remain the highest-ranked, at nine, one spot ahead of the Montreal Canadiens. Goaltending woes continue to cause problems for the Ottawa Senators, who are down one to 17. The Toronto Maple Leafs have won four straight, but hold at 23, after the Jets and Devils rise up. Dealing for goaltender Ben Scrivens provides a little goaltending hope for the Edmonton Oilers and they bump from 27 to 26, while the Calgary Flames hold steady at 29, though they are gradually losing ground to the 30th-ranked Buffalo Sabres. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. wholesale jerseys wholesale nfl jerseys china jerseys from china nfl jerseys cheap authentic cheap jerseys ' ' '
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