Toews' 2 goals fuel another explosion

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The math is simple.

With rookie Jonathan Toews in the lineup, the Blackhawks are 21-16-4. Without him, they're 5-9-2.

Coincidence?

Absolutely not.

"He's special," Hawks coach Denis Savard said. "We missed him when he wasn't in the lineup. Injuries aren't an excuse, but he's such a go-to guy for us."

This game was eerily similar -- almost bizarrely so -- to Wednesday night's thumping of Columbus. The Hawks, behind a pair of goals by Toews, again came out smoking, scoring early and often to take a 3-0 lead after the first 20 minutes en route to a 6-1 victory that turned a sold-out Sommet Center into the Somber Center.

"We've had two great starts in the last two games and you see us coming out with 3-0 and 4-0 leads in the first two periods; I don't think that's a coincidence," said Toews, who added an assist to finish with 3 points on the night.

Making the Hawks' offensive explosion all the more impressive was the fact it came against a Nashville team known for its strong starts -- having outscored opponents 11-2 in their last seven games prior to Thursday.

That run came to a crashing halt just over a minute into the game when Martin Havlat found a wide-open Duncan Keith, who blasted one past Chris Mason for his eighth goal of the season.

"I don't know if it's because we're a young team or what, but that first goal seems to give us a lot of confidence," Keith said.

The rest of the period belonged to Toews. It began at the 6:22 mark when he gathered the puck at his own blue line and skated along the boards and into Nashville territory. Then, with a defenseman draped on him, Toews sped toward the net, then behind and swung in a wraparound.

"Tonight I started feeling a little better," Toews said stoically while getting razzed by teammates. "I'm getting my legs and my jump back."

His second goal of the night and 17th of the season came six minutes later when he muscled a shot past Mason.

That goal marked the end of the night for Mason, who was replaced by Dan Ellis. Things didn't go much better for Ellis, who allowed goals by Rene Bourque (sixth), Cam Barker (third) and Patrick Sharp (27th).

Patrick Lalime, who figures to get a majority of the starts in the absence of injured Nikolai Khabibulin, turned away 24 shots to improve to 9-7-1 for the season. The only one that got past him came in the third period was Jason Arnott's 12th of the season on a power play.

"What I liked the most is that we didn't lay back," Lalime said. "We just played a strong game from start to finish."

The victory provided a happy ending to a grueling 17-day, seven-game road trip that started out poorly for the Hawks.

Now they face the prospect of going home and playing Colorado on Sunday in front of a sold-out United Center.

"It's nice. I think we kind of used that excitement to go into this game and play well and have a happy plane ride home," Keith said.

And then more of the same come Sunday?

"If we don't believe after those last two games … I know we do," Savard said. "I think we're figuring it out."