Artyom Levshunov’s goal gives Blackhawks much-needed overtime win over Jets

The Blackhawks entered this season hoping smarter decisions in three-on-three hockey — and better luck — would improve their overtime record.

So far, so good. The Hawks clipped the Jets 4-3 in their first overtime of the season Thursday, with Artyom Levshunov sealing the victory.

It was a crazy overtime, too, with both teams trading odd-man rushes. Spencer Knight made an incredible lateral save about a minute before Levshunov’s winner to avoid the Hawks going home feeling like one of last season’s biggest woes — a 4-9 overtime record — was bound to repeat itself.

“The one thing we’ve talked about [in overtime] is we want ‘A’ chances, not ‘B’ chances,” coach Jeff Blashill said.

“[We] don’t want to overdo it for a ‘B’ chance and then give up an ‘A’ chance. But a lot of times, when you get ‘A’ chances, you give up ‘A’s the other way if you don’t score. You need big-time players to step up and make big plays.”

Levshunov has fully established his signature celebration — gleefully leaping into teammates’ arms — by this point, but he comically didn’t find a willing partner in Kane.

“When you see a truck like that coming in, obviously I’m not going to try and catch him, right?” Kane said, grinning. “That would be a bad decision.”

Consecutive wins

The 3-5-0 Hawks are now 2-0-0 since Connor Bedard returned, although they’ve squandered 3-1 leads in both games before eventually pulling them out — a pattern they don’t want to become habit.

Bedard ripped his first goal of the season on a five-on-three power play, and Frank Nazar also scored and showed lots of jump in his first game back from suspension.

The second and third periods were filled with sloppy, ugly hockey, though. Bedard called it “choppy,” which was probably a flattering word.

“There were parts of the game that we played really good and…parts of the game where we hurt ourselves,” Blashill said. “There are lessons to be learned, but you would rather learn those lessons while you win.”

Notes

With Bowen Byram out due to an upper-body injury, Blashill inserted Ethan Del Mastro into the lineup instead of Kevin Korchinski, yet again demonstrating his preference for the less acclaimed of the two prospects.

Kane earned his 895th career assist on Bedard’s goal, moving ahead of Phil Housley for the most all-time by an American-born player.