Hawks continue impressive run with 6-1 rout of Flames

Layoff? What layoff?

Playing their first game since last Monday's 6-2 victory over Colorado and looking more refreshed than stale, the Blackhawks picked up right where they left off with another impressive United Center performance Sunday night.

The Hawks' 6-1 rout of the Calgary Flames made it 4 straight wins, 6 in eight games and left them 6-0-2 on home ice.

Since starting the season with losses in New York and Washington a month ago, the Hawks in 11 games have lost just once in regulation.

Six different Hawks scored goals, including Jonathan Toews, with the captain bagging his first of the season in his 13th game to get that monkey off his back.

"It probably was a gorilla," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

"Now he can just play, and I don't have to hear him on the bench, 'Kaner, I was open on that play,' " linemate Patrick Kane said jokingly.

Kane, Martin Havlat, Aaron Johnson, Kris Versteeg and Troy Brouwer also scored to back the goaltending of Cristobal Huet. Kane and Havlat each had a goal and 2 assists.

The Hawks have outscored the Stars, Blue Jackets, Avalanche and Flames 21-8 in their four-game winning streak.

Quenneville stressed the importance of a strong start Sunday because of the layoff, and the Hawks delivered. It actually might have helped the Hawks to kill 3 straight penalties in the game's first eight minutes as far as getting their legs back under them.

"That could have been the difference right there," Toews said. "We came out a little bit flat-footed and used our sticks a few times when we shouldn't, but our penalty-kill has been great. That definitely gave us momentum and confidence early."

Havlat's goal on a power play opened the scoring at 10:36 of the first period. Johnson's slap shot through an Adam Burish screen at 19:03 made it 2-0 after the first.

The Hawks took a 3-1 lead into the third period when Toews scored at the 54-second mark. Taking a pass from Kane, Toews ripped a wrist shot through goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

Toews then set up Versteeg's goal 28 seconds later that made it 5-1 and rocked the house of 21,169, the Hawks' eighth straight sellout and seventh crowd of better than 21,000.

Kane believes the five-day break was a great thing for the Hawks.

"Obviously we had a lot of legs and a lot of rest," Kane said. "I think with the way everything is going right now, the team is feeling good and confident."

The Hawks killed all 8 Calgary power plays while going 2-for-7 themselves.

"It was a real solid game," Quenneville said. "Our penalty-killers did a great job in the first to get us into the game, and coming out of there with the lead was important. I thought all areas of our game were strong. I liked how we worked."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=249489">Relieved Toews finally breaks the ice <span class="date">[11/10/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=249488">Brouwer gets new life under new coach <span class="date">[11/10/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>