CHICAGO -- Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville thought about playing rookie goalie Lars Johansson against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night. Then Scott Darling said he wanted to make his ninth straight start, and the debate was over.Darling had 33 saves, Ryan Hartman, Vinnie Hinostroza and Patrick Kane scored in the third period, and the streaking Blackhawks beat the Sharks 4-1 for their fifth consecutive victory.Darling improved to 6-2-1 since Corey Crawford was sidelined by an emergency appendectomy on Dec. 3. He showed signs of fatigue the past couple games, including Saturday nights 6-4 victory at St. Louis, but Quenneville wanted to stay with what has been working so well lately and Darling wanted the net.It worked out quite well for Chicago, which has won six of seven overall.Sure, its tiring but I knew coming home, getting a good nights sleep and no pregame skate, Id have the energy in the tank to go, Darling said. I dont really try to twist Joels arm in any way at all. I just told him I wanted to play and that was that. He told me I was playing.Joe Pavelski scored for San Jose, which settled for a 3-1 road trip after coming to Chicago with a four-game win streak. Martin Jones finished with 22 stops, but faltered a bit in the third.We felt like we played a pretty good game early on -- it gets away a little at the end -- but it was definitely a game that was there for us, Pavelski said.The division leaders in the Western Conference were tied at 1 when Hinostroza won a faceoff for Chicago and Hartman whipped the puck right by Jones on the stick side at 6:59. It was Hartmans first goal since Nov. 25 at Anaheim, ending an 11-game drought.Hinostroza then got his third of the season when he shot it through Jones legs at 17:40 on a break with Marian Hossa. Hinostroza also scored Saturday night.For us young guys, its felt like its hockey again for a while now, Hartman said. Its nice to be contributing, helping the team win.Kane added an empty-netter as Chicago improved to 13-2-3 at home. Duncan Keith scored his first goal of the season in the second, and Artemi Panarin had two assists while extending his point streak to five games.Our last three games are very comparable, where we had our best period in the third, had our best production as well, Quenneville said.San Jose jumped in front when Pavelski deflected Brent Burns long wrist shot past Darling at 1:13 of the second. It looked as if the puck also might have gone off the stick of Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson on its way to the net.It was Pavelskis third goal in four games and No. 11 on the year.The Sharks then started buzzing around the Blackhawks end. Patrick Marleau got open for a tip in front, but Darling was there. Chris Tierney shot it off the left post with about 4:45 left in the period.Chicago picked up the tying goal when Keith drove a pass from Panarin past Jones from just inside the blue line at 16:49.I thought the second period was probably the difference in the game, coach Peter DeBoer said. To come out 1-1 after we played the way we did, I thought we deserved a little better. If we find a way to get another one going into the third, maybe its a different game, but to their credit their goalie was excellent in the second period and weathered the storm.Game notes Sharks C Melker Karlsson was helped off the ice 3:05 into third. He slipped and fell, and then got hit in the head by Blackhawks F Tyler Motte behind the San Jose net. I think hes OK, but well see tomorrow, DeBoer said. ... Crawford skated again before the game and could return Friday against Colorado. He was out there today with some players, so he got some good work again today, Quenneville said. ... Blackhawks C Artem Anisimov was sidelined by an upper-body injury. He is day to day. ... Pavelski has 30 points in 34 career games against Chicago.UP NEXTSharks: Host Calgary on Tuesday night.Blackhawks: Host Ottawa on Tuesday night.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap Mark Fayne Oilers Jersey . LUCIE, Fla. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Jersey .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. http://www.officialoilersfanstore.com/authentic-leon-draisaitl-oilers-jersey/ . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. Connor McDavid Oilers Jersey . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. Jujhar Khaira Jersey . - The Washington Redskins have cut defensive lineman Adam Carriker and punter Sav Rocca. In its effort to overturn the four-game suspension that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell imposed on Tom Brady, the NFL Players Association has spent more than $3.5 million on legal fees, according to detailed billing records filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. The expenses continue to build as the union ponders a possible attempt to interest the U.S. Supreme Court in the dispute.Like all labor organizations in the U.S., the NFLPA must file detailed financial reports with the federal government. The 466-page report was submitted two months ago and covers the year that began on March 1, 2015, and ended on Feb. 29. The listing of expenses includes the monthly payments to Winston & Strawn, the law firm that, led by attorney Jeffrey Kessler, performed all of the work on Deflategate until the union added the highly regarded appellate advocate Ted Olson to its legal team earlier this year. The work of Olson and his firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which likely ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, came too late to be included in the report.Although there has been considerable speculation about the legal fees that the league and the union have invested in a dispute over the inflation of footballs, these billings are the first report of the actual fees that the union paid. There is no legal requirement that the NFL make public reports of its legal fees.?For the preparation and presentation of evidence in the one-day arbitration hearing before Goodell, the union paid its lawyers $1,328,273, according to the listings in the report for April, May and July of 2015.In its successful challenge to Goodells ruling before U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman, the union spent another $1,563,380 for two days of hearings.The preparation and filing of briefs in response to the leagues appeal of Bermans ruling resulted in $687,566 for the union.The total expense of $3,570,219 does not include the work that Olson did after the appellate courts 2-1 decision that reversed Judge Berman and reinstated Bradys four-game suspension. After the deadline for the filing of the unions annual repoort had expired, Olson prepared an extensive brief asking for rehearing and orchestrated the filing of supporting briefs from the AFL-CIO, famed arbitrator Kenneth Feinberg, and various professors in support of rehearing.dddddddddddd?It is likely that Olsons bills to the union for the effort on rehearing are at least the equal of Kesslers bills for the appeal, which ran around $700,000. Olsons bills will not be made public until the union files its next annual report in May of 2017.Based on the actual bill in the annual report and the estimate of Olsons charges, the cost to each of the unions 2,000 members for pursuit of the lifting of Bradys suspension is $2,000.A union spokesman emphasized, however, in an interview with ESPN.com that the players dues ($15,000 per year) are not used for legal fees. The fees are instead funded out of the unions enormous income from royalties paid to it for NFL paraphernalia under the collective bargaining agreement. Although it is not specifically stated in the public reports, an analysis of other revenue figures in the reports shows that the unions royalties in 2015 were more than $138 million. Dues paid by the players for the same year were $32,168,380. The unions budget for legal fees is approved by its board of player representatives at the groups annual budget adoption meeting, according to the spokesman. It is one of our most in-depth sessions, he said.In addition to the annual review, the unions executive committee meets monthly to approve all spending on legal fees.Although the unions investment in the Brady dispute may seem large, it could be small in comparison to the NFLs expenditures. The league is not required to make public reports of the fees that it pays, but during the course of a Brady appeal hearing, attorney Ted Wells estimated the price of his investigation into Deflategate to be $2.5 million to $3 million. That is, of course, only a fraction of what the NFL has spent in its pursuit of Brady. ' ' '
