Some give and take in Hawks' victory over Blues

In a span of just more than one minute early in the first period Wednesday night, things turned absolutely topsy-turvy for the St. Louis Blues.

The Blackhawks and yet another full house at the United Center were loving every second of it, though they could hardly believe what they were seeing.

One minute the Blues were up 1-0 thanks to David Perron's goal just 4:22 in.

The next minute they were watching starting goalie Chris Mason's night come to a premature end after Bryan Bickell scored the third of 3 straight Hawks goals in a span of just 1:26 to cap an amazing sequence.

Bickell's third of the season was preceded by goals by Ben Eager (7) and Duncan Keith (14), and just like that what looked like a potential trap game against a Blues team with nothing to lose suddenly had the makings of a laugher.

That was especially true after Jordan Hendry and Andrew Ladd scored in the second to make it a 6-1 game.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the final horn: The Blues made a game of it, and this time things turned topsy-turvy for the Hawks in the third, especially after Brady Boyes scored on a penalty shot with 30 seconds remaining to make it 6-5.

"They were still fighting for pride," Bickell said. "They stepped it up."

But a key blocked shot by Dave Bolland in the final seconds helped preserve the victory.

Barely.

"That's not the way you want to finish up," said Versteeg, who finished with a short-handed goal and 3 assists. "I think tonight we got ourselves in trouble because we got too comfortable."

"We're not happy with the way we played in the end," added defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson. "It seems like it went too easy in the beginning. But we got the 2 points and that's what counts."

Easy or difficult, the Hawks nonetheless catapulted into the top spot in the Western Conference with their franchise-best 51st victory.

"I'll take it any day of the week," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We did most of what we wanted to do for the first 40 minutes, but it got away."

The Hawks and San Jose each have 109 points, but the Hawks hold the tiebreaker, putting destiny in their own hands with just two games remaining in the regular season for both teams.

They know they'll have to play more complete games Friday and Sunday to take the West title.

"It's been a good little stretch for the boys here," Versteeg said of the Hawks' five-game winning streak. "But we definitely let this one get away from us and that's not something we want to do."

"We came out hard and played two good periods," Eager said. "It would have been ugly if we didn't win."

The Hawks are looking to run their streak to seven straight come Sunday.

"We had the momentum going into this game," Quenneville said. "We'll see how it goes the rest of the way here."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Tim Sassone's game tracker</p>

<p class="News">Blackhawks 6, Blues 5</p>

<p class="News"><b>Three stars</b></p>

<p class="News">1. Kris Versteeg, Hawks: A short-handed goal and 3 assists.</p>

<p class="News">2. Andrew Ladd, Hawks: Plus-2 with a goal and assist.</p>

<p class="News">3. David Backes, Blues: By far their best player with 2 assists and 5 hits.</p>

<p class="News"><b>Another record</b></p>

<p class="News">A day after setting a franchise record with their 50th win, the Hawks established another club mark with 109 points.</p>

<p class="News"><b>Possible suspension?</b></p>

<p class="News">The NHL likely will review Dustin Byfuglien's slashing major against Andy McDonald with 31 seconds left that resulted in a penalty shot, which Brad Boyes converted for the injured McDonald. Byfuglien also was ejected.</p>

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