Hawks run winning streak to 7
Now this is a serious winning streak — the kind the Blackhawks believed was in them all along.
Three different lines chipped in goals and rookie goaltender Corey Crawford was a rock again Friday night as the Hawks ran their winning streak to seven games by handling the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 at the United Center.
The Hawks stepped out of the Western Conference for the first of five straight games against Eastern teams but kept the intensity dialed to high.
“We're just playing better overall hockey and working hard,” defenseman Brian Campbell said. “It's a tough week for us with a lot of hockey. We go into Toronto (tonight) and they're playing well and it's going to be a tough game.
“We want to be greedy and get them all. We want to keep this thing going. You could win 10 in a row and still now be comfortable, but we put ourselves in this situation by not playing the best hockey for the first 60 games of the year.”
There's a feeling in the dressing room now where the Hawks are confident they can win every night.
“It's in the air here,” said newly acquired defenseman Chris Campoli, who had his first 2 assists with the Hawks. “Guys believe we're going to win. We find ways to score goals, we get up on teams and find ways to win.”
The way things are going, Campoli can't fathom how the Hawks scuffled as much as they did earlier in the season.
“It's hard to imagine, I have to be honest,” Campoli said. “It's such a talented group in here.”
Jonathan Toews helped lead the way again, opening the scoring 55 seconds into the game with a steal and his 26th goal of the season. Toews now has 6 goals in the last five games and an eight-game points streak (7 goals, 7 assists).
“It was a good way to start,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “The building was loud right from the outset and scoring early gets everybody into the game.”
After Carolina's Eric Staal tied it at 6:23 of the first period, the Hawks went ahead to stay at 9:51 when Bryan Bickell dug out a Brent Seabrook rebound and fired it past goalie Justin Peters.
The Hawks broke open a tight 2-1 game with 3 goals just 4:32 apart early in the third period by Ryan Johnson, Dave Bolland and Patrick Kane.
“It was one of those dangerous settings where they're hanging around and in the game,” Quenneville said. “We got comfortable and relaxed and took the foot off the gas in the last two games — Minnesota was like that and Calgary — but I thought we stayed with it pretty well and did what we had to do.”
The Hawks had five different goal scorers and points from 10 players.
“That's what we were looking for in our team game all year, whether it was consistency in production or consistency in four-line rotation,” Quenneville said. “It's probably at our best point all year, and we want to make sure let's continue on because we're headed in the right direction.”