Chicago Blackhawks make it 11 straight wins
The date was Dec. 28.
The night before, the Chicago Blackhawks had just lost to old buddy Kris Versteeg and the Carolina Hurricanes, and five days before that they were whitewashed in Dallas by a pair of old pals in Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya.
They were 20-13-4 and in third place in the Central Division, a whopping 13 points behind the first-place Stars and only 4 points ahead of fifth-place Nashville.
Twenty days later — after the Hawks rattled off a franchise-tying-best 11th straight victory with a 5-2 victory over Montreal on Sunday night at the United Center — it's downright astonishing how much things have changed.
Andrew Shaw is a man reborn. Marian Hossa is playing like he's 27 instead of 37. Artemi Panarin refuses to slow down. Patrick Kane remains on a beeline to 100 points. Corey Crawford is playing the best hockey of his life. Jonathan Toews is playing like Jonathan Toews again.
Every line is contributing. The power play can't be stopped.
Downright scary stuff for the rest of the NHL.
“We just played the — first of all the Stanley Cup champion — and I believe they look better than last year,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said.
The Blackhawks are in first place, 3 points ahead of Dallas, a whopping 18 in front of fifth-place Nashville, and opponents seem powerless to stop them.
“I don't think we're playing too out of our minds and we're getting too overly confident,” said Toews, who scored twice and added an assist. “We're just working really hard and things are going our way.”
Newcomer Richard Panik scored his first NHL goal since March 13 of last year just 2:40 into the game, and Toews' scored his goals 5:01 apart in the second period to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead.
Montreal put the affair in some doubt when Max Pacioretty made it 3-2 with 9:38 remaining, but 71 seconds later Kane took a perfect feed from Panarin and ripped home his 29th goal.
“Great play by him,” Kane said. “You know, it's a safe play, too. We're up by 1 goal there and he chips it in, beats his guy to the puck and throws a great pass over between a guy's legs.”
Kane's next goal will tie his career high.
Crawford stopped 27 shots to improve to 26-10-2 with a .929 save percentage.
“It feels good, that's for sure,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “There's a lot of enthusiasm going into games, on the bench. It's been real positive. I like the consistency.”
Said Kane: “Happy with the way we're playing … but not at all satisfied. I think the reason we've been winning games is we've been taking it one at a time — not looking too far ahead or too far in the past to see which way we've been playing. Been a good little run for us.”
One that if it continues will result in a franchise-best 12th straight victory Tuesday in Nashville.