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 Cheap Kings Jerseys China . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center on Sunday, saying its operations must improve or a six-month ban on the facilitys accreditation will be imposed. Cheap NBA Jerseys . The move comes after the Canadiens were approached by the Buffalo Sabres for permission to speak to Dudley - a former Sabres player and head coach. "The Sabres called for permission and I appreciate that, Im flattered, Dudley told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun of ESPN. http://www.cheapsacramentokingsjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-garrett-temple-jersey . They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. Buddy Hield Jersey . The winner Saturday will remain in the elite 10-team field next year. "We talked about wanting to be disciplined and stick with our game plan and good things will come," Draisaitl said, who had two goals for the victors. Kosta Koufos Jersey . After a lengthy wait, persistent rain finally forced the postponement of the Nationals game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday night. The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association jointly announced Wednesday night that they have reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, pending ratification by the leagues players and team owners.The sides have agreed to extend their mutual deadline to opt out of the existing CBA, which was Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET, to Jan. 13 in order to give them sufficient time to review terms and hold the separate votes required to ratify the seven-year deal, which contains an opt-out clause for both parties after Year 6.On Wednesday night, the joint statement from the league and the union stated that specific deal terms would be released at a later date, but sources said a prime feature of the new CBA is a number of measures designed to help teams retain their current stars.Its amazing. Im excited, said union president Chris Paul of the LA Clippers. Im happy for our fans, the owners involved. Its a great thing.The leagues average salary is expected to jump from the $5 million range to nearly $9 million annually, with significant jumps -- approximately 45 percent -- planned for rookie-scale deals, minimum-salary contracts and some free-agent exceptions, including the midlevel exception.In addition to those planned hikes, sources said teams will have the ability to offer designated veteran star players contract extensions up to five seasons in length (and in some cases six seasons), greatly enhancing the ability of small-market teams to retain their best players. Starting in July, teams such as the?Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings?will be able to offer lucrative long-term extensions to Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins, respectively. These extensions have been modeled after the NBAs Designated Player Rookie Extension rules.There will be no amnesty clause in the new CBA, sources say. There have been amnesty clauses in the past two CBAs, allowing teams to waive players and have their salaries removed from the salary cap.The annual split of basketball-related income, known as BRI, for players will remain at the current 49 percent to 51 percent, sources said. The early-entry age for the NBA draft will continue to be 19, with the stipulation that American players must also be one year removed from high school to be draft eligible.Maximum roster size, though, will rise from 15 to 17 players, with the extra slots earmarked for players on two-way contracts, as seen in the NHL. Those contracts stipulate that a players salary is based on NBA minimums when the player is up and an estimated $75,000 when the player is on assignment in the NBA Development League.The game is going great for both the owners and players, Chicago Bulls guard Dwyane Wade said. We talked about having a real partnership in the last labor negotiations. These are definitely signs that things are going in the right direction.As ESPN reported earlier this month, significant changes to the regular-season schedule are forthcoming, which are designed to reduce the number of back-to-back sets and four-games-in-five-nights stretches that teams currently face. The 2017-18 season, sources said, will start in the Oct. 17-18 range, one week earlier than it did this season (Oct. 25).According to a report from USA Today, union officials will now handle negotiations with companies for player likenesses in licensing agreements. ESPN reported Saturday this had emerged as a significant issue for the NBPA, which has sought control of licensing matters for yearrs to mirror such arrangements in the NFL, MLB and NHL.ddddddddddddThe NBA has handled licensing negotiations for the past three decades, while paying the union a flat fee in the millions to distribute among its membership. The league will remain in control of trademarks/logos and team name licensing rights.This season is the first of a nine-year, $24 billion television deal between the NBA, ESPN and Turner Sports. Its also the first labor deal negotiated by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who succeeded David Stern on Feb. 1, 2014, and National Basketball Players Association head Michele Roberts, who replaced Billy Hunter in July 2014.ESPN first reported earlier Wednesday that the NBA and the union were on the brink of announcing the deal, which has been anticipated in league circles for weeks and is poised to deliver seven more years of labor peace.A deal to render the opt-out moot and snuff out any possibility of a lockout in the 2017 offseason has come together to beat that deadline, despite New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony telling ESPNs Ramona Shelburne over the weekend that he was skeptical a deal could be struck in time.ESPN subsequently reported that control over licensing matters and the use of player likenesses had emerged as a significant issue in the latter stages of the labor talks, but sources said Wednesday that those issues had been largely resolved.The votes to ratify the new deal, which are likely to take place later this month for both league owners and active players, will be regarded as a formality once an agreement is reached.Its great for the league and the players and the owners and everybody to come to an agreement and hopefully not be a lockout and we can play basketball and give these fans some exciting basketball, and everybody is happy, said?Houston Rockets?star guard James Harden.Other players reacted quickly on social media to the agreement, including Golden States Draymond Green, who said one day we will get it right ... maybe.But most players who spoke Wednesday seemed thrilled.It just shows you how big the NBA, how popular the NBA is, that it cant afford a lockout, said Toronto Raptors?guard DeMar DeRozan. People love the game too much. Its great.Said Washington Wizards guard John Wall: Its a lot better than having a lockout.The sides have been meeting almost daily this month -- sometimes multiple times a day -- in hopes of getting the long-anticipated deal to the finish line.With the revised deadline, both the league and union retain the ability to opt out on or before Jan. 13, in the event that talks collapse. If either side opts out, the current agreement will expire on June 30, and the sides will have until then to hash out a new deal and avoid a lockout. If a new agreement is not finalized and neither side opts out by Jan. 13, the current agreement will remain in effect through the 2020-21 season.But even Anthony acknowledged, in raising his concerns to Shelburne about a dent in conversations that had unsettled talks at the 25th hour, that the sides have been close to a deal for some time.I think everyone negotiated in good faith, Paul said. The conversations were great. Everything was cordial. Everyone knows how well the game is going and didnt want to mess that up.Information from?ESPN salary-cap expert?Larry Coon and The Associated Press was used in this report. ' ' '