Hawks' top line fuels easy win over Islanders

Kris Versteeg received one message from coach Joel Quenneville on Monday - play better or else.

Well, the entire NHL received a completely different message the next day: Watch out for the Hawks' reconstructed first line of Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp. The trio completely and utterly dominated play from the get-go as the Hawks rolled to a 4-1 victory over the Islanders at the United Center.

Toews and Hossa each scored 2 goals, and Toews added 2 assists.

The Hawks are now 7-1-1 in their last nine games and increasing the pressure on St. Louis and Nashville in the Central Division. The win followed an impressive 6-2 victory at San Jose on Saturday.

"We've seen it all year where we've had a hard time building off of good games," Toews said after the first period. "We know it's a good team and it's a good start for us."

Said Quenneville beforehand: "It's got to be played like it's a playoff game."

The Hawks certainly played like it was.

Seven minutes into the game, Toews gave his team a 1-0 lead on a ridiculous shot from behind the net. The puck glanced off Calvin de Haan's stick in front and deflected in for Toews' 22nd goal of the season. Nine minutes later, Toews took a pass from Niklas Hjalmarsson and beat goalie Michal Neuvirth with a backhand shot and a 2-0 Hawks lead.

The top line took 7 of the Hawks' 16 shots on net in the first period and finished with 12 of 29 overall.

Toews now has 5 goals and 7 assists in the last 10 games. Hossa has 21 goals on the season, marking the 14th straight season (taking out the 48-game campaign of 2012-13) in which he's scored 20-plus.

It's no surprise, of course, that Toews, Hossa and Sharp can provide quite the offensive punch. After all, the three have combined for a whopping 948 NHL goals and they played together almost all of last season.

Before the game, Toews said he liked how the Hawks have played of late.

"It's heading the right direction," Toews said. "The urgency is there and I think the consistency is there."

Corey Crawford continued his strong play in net, stopping 38 of 39 shots.

The Islanders have now lost four in a row and are struggling to score, managing just 4 goals during their losing streak. Former Hawk Nick Leddy missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury, and it may not be a coincidence that the rough times go hand in hand with his absence.

"He's so good at getting pucks through out of the point to the net, and putting them to the right areas for us forwards," said New York's John Tavares before the game. "You're starting to realize that talent and potential that's there, and the skill set that he has - he's a special player."

As for Versteeg, he was in fact in the lineup Tuesday after not skating with any of the Hawks' four lines at practice Monday. Versteeg skated on the third line with Brad Richards and Bryan Bickell. He took 1 shot in 11:20 of ice time, far less than his 16:05 average.

• Andrew Shaw received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct when he head-butted Islanders center Brock Nelson 5:30 into the second period. The Hawks allowed just 1 shot on goal in one of their most impressive penalty kills of the season.