Kane scores twice as Chicago Blackhawks win 5th straight
A blunt, honest Patrick Kane minced no words when asked a week ago for an evaluation of his play through 29 games of the Chicago Blackhawks' season.
"Obviously I need to bring more … and be able to help this team out," Kane said. "I guess you could say I'm not doing my job right now."
He's sure been doing it since that interview on Dec. 9, though, hasn't he?
In the four games since, Kane has 4 goals - 2 of which came in a 4-1 victory over Minnesota at the United Center on Sunday night - and 3 assists for a red-hot Blackhawks (17-11-5) squad that suddenly is riding a five-game winning streak.
With 299 goals over his storied career, Kane moved past Dennis Hull (298) and into fifth place on the Hawks' all-time list.
"It's always nice when you're producing. That's obviously my job, so that's what I have to do," said Kane, who was the only big-name player to show up for Sunday's optional morning skate.
"More than anything you just kind of want to improve on your game and your craft every day and reach your highest potential and see where that can help take this team. It's always a work in progress."
Ryan Hartman broke a 17-game goal-scoring drought to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead early in the third period, Tommy Wingels added an empty-netter at 16:00, and Corey Crawford made 27 saves to improve to 16-7-2.
The Hawks moved 2 points ahead of the Wild (17-13-3) and now have the sixth-most points in the Western Conference.
Kane, who leads the team with 14 goals, gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead at 10:56 of the first period, one-timing a perfect pass from linemate Nick Schmaltz. He then made it 2-0 at 15:36 of the second after taking a gorgeous stretch pass from Jordan Oesterle and completing a breakaway with a wrist shot that Alex Stalock stood no chance of stopping.
"You come to expect that from Schmaltzy now," Kane said. "That's a great pass cross-ice. … And then fortunate enough to be coming off the bench there with some speed, and Oesty made a great pass that was hard, it was flat, it was right on my tape. … Great play by him, too."
Even superstars in this league go through dry spells, but that's rarely the case for Kane. His recent four-game pointless streak was his longest since the 2009-10 season.
"He's just so hard to defend," coach Joel Quenneville said. "There's so much possession, zone time and looks where they have to be so aware of him that other things just open up. And with Schmaltzy … they find seams and score some nice give-and-go goals. That line - when it plays in the other team's end - it's tough to defend."
The quiet, unsung hero of this winning streak is definitely Crawford. Since returning from a lower-body injury, the Hawks' steady-as-a-rock goaltender has allowed just 7 goals and owns a .956 save percentage.
"He's spectacular," Hartman said. "He makes those big saves at the right time, and it's huge for us. It gets us up on the bench and it makes us work a little harder because you know he's working hard for us on the back end."
Stalock, in net for the injured Devan Dubnyk, was under heavy fire all night and finished with 42 saves.