Hat trick for Toews in Blackhawks win

The Blackhawks sent a loud, clear message to the Wild on Tuesday night: We're coming for you.

The Hawks, behind 3 goals from Jonathan Toews as well as tallies from linemates Richard Panik and Nick Schmaltz, defeated host Minnesota 5-3 to creep within 5 points of the Central Division leaders.

"We know who we're chasing here - a good hockey team," assistant coach Kevin Dineen told Comcast SportsNet before the start of the third period. "They've been very consistent all year. But they know they've got somebody on their tails. We're going to show it."

Did they ever.

Toews, who had a 5-point night, was absolutely spectacular, scoring the game's first goal 58 seconds into the second period, adding his second 8:23 into the third to make it 4-2 and closing the scoring with an empty-netter with 1:02 remaining. It was the fourth hat trick of his career.

The Hawks' captain has 15 goals on the season, 8 of which have come in the last 12 games. Panik and Schmaltz have been paired with Toews for eight straight games - more than any other combo all season - and the trio's chemistry has been incredible.

"It's a lot of fun because I think we're feeling it," Toews told Comcast SportsNet. "Schmaltzy and Panik are playing so well at both ends of the rink. For me I just try to disappear and get to the net.

"The two of them have great shots and a ton of confidence carrying the puck and making plays in the offensive zone."

The play of the night had to come from Schmaltz when he took the puck behind the net and fooled everyone in the building by backhanding a pass to Toews, who was just in front of goalie Devan Dubnyk. Toews shot the puck home for his second goal of the night.

"It's one of those things that when you have the puck a lot, eventually you get confident enough to try things," Toews said. "I was kind of getting ready for him to go around the net to try and get my forehand on it, and all of a sudden the puck was just sitting there. … I just shoveled it with whatever I could get on the puck. Their goaltender and D-men didn't see it, so it was a pretty nice play."

Panik scored 5:01 into the second period after taking a pass from Toews and roofing one past Dubnyk to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead. It was Panik's 16th goal and his fifth in the last six games.

Schmaltz's goal made it 3-1 when he whistled a shot past Dubnyk 33 seconds into the third period after Toews won a faceoff at the left dot. It was his fourth goal in 15 games since being called up from Rockford.

Minnesota wouldn't go away, getting third-period scores from Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund, but the Wild never found the equalizer.

"We felt their effort coming out early in the game that both teams were ready to play," Toews said. "This matchup is getting better and better.

"There's a good history between these two teams - regular season and playoffs the last few years. It's only building, so it was a fun game to play in tonight. Obviously a huge win for us."

The win was the 400th for Joel Quenneville as coach of the Blackhawks.