Toews, Kane score 2 each in Hawks' shootout win

ATLANTA -- Jonathan Toews' start to the season has mirrored that of the team he captains.

Toews has been OK, nothing great, at least by his high standards.

Toews dialed his game up a notch Saturday night and so did Patrick Kane as the linemates combined for 4 goals and 7 points in the Hawks' 5-4 victory over the Thrashers in a shootout.

Toews' 2 goals and 2 assists gave him the first 4-point game of his career in the regular season. He also scored in the shootout that Viktor Stalberg eventually ended in the fifth round.

“As a line, especially Kaner and I, we feel like we've been playing well, but 5-on-5 we want to start generating a little bit more,” Toews said. “Some of these games we lost, we're getting a lot of chances and if we can start burying those scoring chances we can make a difference in some of these games.

“I think we did that tonight and helped our team hang in there until overtime.”

Kane was dazzling with the puck all night. He had 2 goals and an assist in what he called his best game of the season.

“There's been a lot of motivation to get going around here,” Kane said. “I think we've been playing pretty well but just haven't got results. It was nice to chip in a few tonight.”

Toews admitted following the game that what happened earlier in the day when coach Joel Quenneville kicked the team off the ice just 15 minutes into the morning skate lit a fire under the club that was 7-7-1 coming into the game.

“It had to,” Toews said. “That motivation should be coming from within our own locker room. We're adults and we're mature professional hockey players. We should know when it's time to light that fire.

“It was a wake-up call because the way we practice and the way we prepare carries into games.”

Quenneville preferred to talk about Toews and Kane and not what happened at the morning skate.

“I thought they had a great game, a good response with their leadership,” Quenneville said. “It was nice to see them produce and at the same time I thought they were real committed to the team and doing what we had to do to be successful.”

Hawks goalie Marty Turco made 33 saves, many of them acrobatically, and stopped 4 of 5 more shots in the shootout. Three of the 4 goals he allowed came on power plays.

Turco's poke check against Dustin Byfuglien in the fifth round of the shootout set the stage for Stalberg to win it with a backhander over goalie Ondrej Pavelec.

“It's a lot more fun knowing you can win it instead of having the pressure of tying it,” Stalberg said. “I was really hoping that Marty was going to give me a chance to win it. Marty gave us a chance to win the shootout.”

Former Hawks Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd and Ben Eager each had an assist.

“I lined up next to Eager a few times so a couple good jokes there,” Kane said. “With Buff, we were pretty much on the ice together every time, so he was always looking at me and we had a few laughs.

“They're great guys and were a huge part of our team last year, not only on the ice.”

Tim Sassone's game tracker

Three stars:

1. Jonathan Toews, Hawks: Two goals, 2 assists and another goal in the shootout for the captain.

2. Patrick Kane, Hawks: Two goals, an assist and 8 shots on goal.

3. Viktor Stalberg, Hawks: Ended a solid game by scoring the winning goal in the shootout.

The old Hawks: Dustin Byfuglien was minus-2 with 6 shots on goal. Andrew Ladd had an assist, scored in the shootout and was minus-1. Ben Eager was plus-1 with an assist in 16 minutes. And Brent Sopel was plus-1 in 16 minutes with 3 blocked shots.