Kane’s Game-Winner Lifts Blackhawks Past Oilers, Gives Glass A Win In His NHL Debut

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Patrick Kane scored 50 seconds into overtime to give 32-year-old goaltender Jeff Glass a win in his NHL debut and lift the Chicago Blackhawks over the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Friday night.

Kane deked around a defender then shoved in the rebound of his own shot past Cam Talbot.

After scoring, Kane pointed toward the other end of the ice at Glass, and teammates quickly enveloped the journeyman. The Calgary native made 42 saves in his debut, which came 12 seasons after his first minor league game.

Ryan Hartman, Alex DeBrincat and Jordan Oesterle also scored for the Blackhawks, who snapped a three-game losing skid.

Jesse Puljujarvi, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl scored for Edmonton, and Talbot stopped 32 shots.

Puljujarvi’s power-play goal with 5:34 remaining in the first opened the scoring on Edmonton’s 17th shot on goal. The Blackhawks tied it with 55 seconds left in the first when Hartman swatted in a rebound.

Chicago took a 2-1 lead on the power play with six minutes left in the second as an Oilers miscue ended with DeBrincat putting a shot through Talbot’s legs for his 13th.

The Blackhawks took a two-goal lead with another power-play goal at 8:28 of the third when Oesterle’s point shot hit the crossbar and caromed off Talbot’s back.

Nugent-Hopkins scored with a shot off a defender with 2:19 left, and then Draisaitl got his 10th to tie it with 55 seconds left and Talbot pulled for an extra attacker.

NOTES: It was the second of three meetings between the teams this season. Edmonton beat Chicago 2-1 in overtime on Oct. 19. … It was the first time this season the Oilers have had their projected six starting defenseman in the lineup at the same time.

UP NEXT

Blackhawks: Play at Calgary on Sunday night.

Oilers: Host Winnipeg on Sunday night.

(© 2017 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.)

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Need A Home? Maybe The ‘Land Bank’ Can Help

(CBS) — Fifty-one-year-old Keith Grant is ready to start the new year in his new house. It’s the first the lifelong Chicagoan has ever owned.

“It’s such a wonderful feeling,” Grant tells CBS 2’s Dana Kozlov.

His house, in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, sat vacant for years until the Cook County Land Bank Authority bought it, setting it on its path for redevelopment.

It is one of 200 homes in many hard-hit areas the Land Bank Authority has helped turn around since 2013.

Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer started the Land Bank with money from the mortgage foreclosure settlement. It’s now self-sustaining, with no tax dollars or grants used.

Gainer says working with small, local developers is a top priority.

“We’ve created wealth all throughout communities, because when someone owns their home, they’re building wealth for their future. When a local person has developed that home and built a business, that’s also building stability for the future, and we’re adding money to the tax rolls.”

The Land Bank’s CEO says they encourage developers to sell homes at below-market prices, which helps new homeowners get affordable mortgages. The Land Bank also sets high standards for developers, their plans and their materials.

 

 

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Niko Mirotic’s Confidence Continues Rubbing Off On Hot-Shooting Bulls

By Cody Westerlund–

CHICAGO (670 The Score) — It was on Dec. 6 that the Bulls reached rock bottom, blowing a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter and collapsing in the final minutes of a 98-96 road loss to the Pacers. It dropped Chicago to a league-worst 3-20.

No one imagined what has followed. Since Dec. 8, the Bulls have gone 10-2, a resurgence that continued with a 119-107 victory against those same Pacers at the United Center on Friday night. The only team with a better record than the Bulls in the last three weeks? The defending champion Warriors, who were 8-1 ahead of a contest late Friday night.

That which no one saw coming has left the Bulls a bit philosophical themselves.

“What doesn’t break you makes you stronger,” forward Niko Mirotic said in Spanish and relayed through a reporter in English.

Mirotic has been a leading figure in the Bulls’ success, with his return from injury coinciding with the start of the Bulls’ 10-2 surge. He kept it up Friday, scoring a season-high 28 points and hitting eight 3-pointers, which was just one off the franchise record that he shares with Ben Gordon. Mirotic’s marksmanship headlined a Bulls shooting clinic in which they hit a franchise record-tying 18 3-pointers and shot 50.6 percent overall.

Afterward, Mirotic continued to showcase his self-assured demeanor, declaring “it’s my moment” and adding that his son asked him before the game to hit five 3-pointers. Mirotic thought he should’ve made 10 or more, given the quality looks he had.

“He’s just so confident right now,” Hoiberg said of Mirotic. “I really, truly believe that’s rubbing off on our entire team, just the way he’s going out there and playing with confidence and swagger. It’s been fun.”

Mirotic had plenty of help on a night in which starting point guard Kris Dunn was a late scratch with left knee tendinitis. Rookie Lauri Markkanen set his career-high with 32 points, shooting 11-of-17 and 5-of-9 on 3-pointers. He closed alongside Mirotic in a shooting-heavy lineup.

“The personnel, the spacing that we have, those shots are open,” Valentine said of the 3-point barrage. “The thing we’re really underrated at, when we’re on and getting into the paint, when we’re getting into the paint, we create those threes. We got guys who can make them.”

The Bulls moved to 13-22 with the win, further putting their tank on hold. They’re four games clear of the worst record in the NBA and five games out of the eighth seed in the East. Asked whether the Bulls have bigger-picture goals in mind, Hoiberg downplayed that thought process, saying, “When you put the small goals out there, the bigger goals take care of themselves.”

It’s a line echoed by Valentine, who has previously talked playoffs.

“We want to try to compete and do whatever we can,” Valentine said. “I don’t know what our ceiling is. If we just focus on, like Fred said, just winning every day, then we can get to the point we’re talking playoffs and everything. We just got to attack every day.”

Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.

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Alderman Hopes Cops Can End ‘Blood Sport’ In His Ward

(CBS) – Chicago police brass are trumpeting a drop in crime in 2017, over last year.

But keep in mind, 2017 is being compared to an exceptionally bad year – 2016.

2 investigator Brad Edwards went to Back of the Yards, where a statistical down-tick fails to tell the whole story.

“It’s a blood sport, it’s a neighborhood war where you have one faction trying to kill and maim as many as the opposition as possible, using high-powered rifles,” Ald. Ray Lopez, 15th Ward, says.

Earlier this year, two officers were shot when gunmen with high-powered weapons began shooting indiscriminately at them. Lopez says battling a festering gang war has been tough because of what’s happening at the top levels of CPD.

“Just when the commanders get their groove, they’re gone.”

He says in the local police district they’ve had four different commanders in the past two years.

Supt. Eddie Johnson says good commanders should be promoted.

“I think that moving forward, the person that is there now will probably be there for some time,” he says.

Lopez hopes stability leads to street-level success in 2018.

He says he is particularly excited about the new commander in the 9^th District, in part because he saw success in the city’s Englewood district.

 

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Cops Out In Force This Holiday Weekend

(CBS) — New Year’s Eve crowds will be dealing with not only severe cold but also heightened security at Chicago’s Navy Pier this weekend.

2 Investigator Dave Savini reports on how Chicago police are getting ready for the celebration.

Massive concrete barricades are just some of the measures police are taking to stop vehicular attacks where crowds might gather, along with patrolling pedestrian-filled sidewalks on the Magnificent Mile.

The effort to step up security started this fall after deadly scenes like the rented truck attack on a lower Manhattan bike path, the 2016 attacks in  France, killing 84, and another at the Berlin Christmas market that killed 12.

Friday, police and security were all over Chicago’s Union Station, and CPD units were up and down Michigan avenue, even parked in the middle of the street.

That gave the Yi family form Chicago a sense of security as they took their 6-month-old baby, Thomas, out shopping with them.

There are also police barricades ready to go all along Illinois Street east to Navy Pier in preparation for the New Year’s Eve celebration.

Metal fencing surrounds the pier, and every corner has a stack of barricades on it. Three thousand people are expected.

Yolanda Martin says she hopes extra patrols will also crack down on all the theft that occurs on New Year’s Eve.

“I think people should be able to enjoy the holiday without getting robbed,” Martin says.

Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult at all times during the New Year’s Eve festivities at Navy Pier.

 

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As Temps Plunge, Shelter Searches Streets For Homeless

(CBS) – A wintry weather combo of snow and extreme cold creates a critical concern for Chicago’s homeless.

Staff at Franciscan Outreach say the shelter’s been over capacity since Tuesday, but they’re hoping to help even more people this weekend as forecasts calling for wind chills in the negatives.

They check the sidewalks, park and viaduct around Harrison and California multiple times a day to make sure no one is staying out in the potentially deadly elements.

“We have seen definitely a lot of our guests who have lost many limbs due to the cold,” program director Cynthia Northington says.

Franciscan Outreach is serving as a 24/7 warming center at the request of the city, until Tuesday.

 

 

 

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Surging Bulls Hold Off Pacers 119-107

CHICAGO (AP) — Rookie Lauri Markkanen scored a career-high 32 points, Nikola Mirotic added 28 and the surging Chicago Bulls beat the Indiana Pacers 119-107 on Friday night for their third consecutive win.

Hot-shooting Chicago made 18 of 39 3-point attempts in its 10th win in 12 games. Robin Lopez and Bobby Portis each scored 12 points, helping the Bulls to their seventh straight home win for their longest such streak since a seven-game run spanning two seasons in 2013.

It was the first meeting between the teams since Indiana erased a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter of a 98-96 victory on Dec. 6. It might have been the lowest point of the season on the court so far for suddenly interesting Bulls (13-22), and they gained a measure of revenge by turning away another charge by the Pacers in the fourth quarter.

Darren Collison scored 30 points for Indiana (19-17), which has dropped three in a row and four of six. Lance Stephenson had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Domantas Sabonis finished with 14 points and nine boards.

Stephenson started in place of Victor Oladipo, who missed his second straight game because of a sore right knee. Oladipo, who is averaging a team-high 24.9 points in his first season with the Pacers, also is doubtful for Sunday’s matchup with Minnesota.

“He needs to rest the knee and we have to give him some time here,” coach Nate McMillan said.

The Bulls also played without a key guard after Kris Dunn was scratched because of left knee tendinitis. But Jerian Grant stepped into the starting lineup and finished with 11 points and 12 assists.

Chicago opened a 103-84 lead on David Nwaba’s layup with 7:46 left. Indiana then ripped off 11 of the next 14 points to close to 106-95 on Stephenson’s basket with 4:49 remaining.

But Mirotic responded with a layup and Markkanen hit two free throws to run the Bulls’ lead back out to 15.

 

TIP-INS 

Bulls: Mirotic went 8 for 16 from 3-point range. Markkanen was 5 for 9 from beyond the arc. … G Zach LaVine, who is coming back from left knee surgery, worked out Thursday and Friday. He is scheduled for six straight days of contact beginning on Saturday, including four days with Chicago’s G League affiliate. “Obviously it’s a very important part of the process for Zach,” coach Fred Hoiberg said, “and hopefully everything goes great, and you know we’ll kind of take it from there.”

 

UP NEXT

Bulls: Visit Washington on Sunday for their first meeting of the season.

(© 2017 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.)

 

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