Hawks' Niemi makes 22 saves, wins 1st NHL start
This is the time of year, as the calendar turns to March and the NHL playoff races reach feverish levels, when a team's best players need to step up and make a difference.
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews obviously got the memo.
Toews' goal 47 seconds into Sunday afternoon's game against the Los Angeles Kings at the United Center started the Hawks on their way to a 4-2 victory that snapped their three-game losing streak.
"He's got a hot stick," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
Ya think?
The goal was the fourth in two games for Toews and his ninth in the last eight games, giving him a team-leading 26.
Toews' goal Sunday, like several of his others of late, came with him standing in front of the crease and tipping a shot by Matt Walker past Kings goalie Jonathan Quick.
"I just feel confident that if I take a swing at it, it's going to hit my stick and happen to go in," Toews said. "It's obviously effective if you're in front of the goaltender and he doesn't see it and you get a piece of the puck.
"It's something I've been trying to work on and get better at and it's helped me the last couple games."
Toews was coming off the first hat trick of his career in Friday's overtime loss to Pittsburgh.
"I don't think it's a coincidence when you go to the front of the net," teammate Duncan Keith said. "He's been doing that for a while now and he's been getting rewarded.
"When you go to the front of the net, good things happen. You get a rebound or a tip-in, and that's what he's been doing for us."
Having better net presence and pounding pucks from the points have been big parts of the system implemented by Quenneville since he took over four games into the season.
"Usually good things happen when you penetrate that area, and Johnny has been playing real well," Quenneville said. "Besides his production he's been very effective. He's a special player and will continue to improve his game and be a better pro.
"His maturity has been very rapid this year, both on and off the ice. I think he's just turning into that kind of player you want the Blackhawks to follow."
Keith, Dustin Byfuglien and Dave Bolland added goals to make a winner out of rookie goalie Antti Niemi, who made 22 saves in his first NHL start.
"It's very exciting," the 25-year-old Niemi said. "I was real nervous."
It certainly helped calm Niemi down to get goals from Toews and Keith in the first six minutes for a 2-0 lead.
"We're happy for him," Toews said. "But we just wanted to play better in front of our goaltender, whether it's Cristobal (Huel) or Nikolai (Khabibulin).
"Antti was great tonight, but it doesn't matter who's in net for us. Usually the question is how we play in front of them."
Niemi held the Hawks in there after the Kings pulled within 3-2. He made a big stop on Brad Richardson busting in early in the second period to preserve the 1-goal lead.
"We had some looks, but he played good and made some stops at critical times," Kings coach Terry Murray said. "I'm sure they're happy with his performance."