Blackhawks finally end losing streak

Remember that scowl Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville wore for the better part of the last three weeks?

It was gone Thursday night, replaced by a big smile after the Hawks ended their nine-game losing streak with an improbable 4-2 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

“I haven’t had too many regular-season wins that felt like this,” Quenneville told reporters after the Hawks’ first victory since Jan. 20 and first on the road since the middle of December.

This was one game you thought the Hawks wouldn’t win, looking at their nine-game road trip before it started.

The Rangers are the best team in the Eastern Conference, came in 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and have been nearly unbeatable at the Garden. But the Hawks rocked them with 4 goals in the first 10 minutes, then held on the rest of the way.

It helped that Rangers coach John Tortorella didn’t start all-star goalie Henrik Lundqvist, but it still was a win the Hawks earned thanks in large part to terrific penalty killing.

The Hawks were short-handed seven times and killed each penalty, including a four-minute Rangers power play in the first period.

“Our penalty killing was outstanding,” Quenneville said. “It was probably the biggest area that got us a win tonight.”

The coaching staff has tweaked the penalty kill, a problem area all season, emphasizing more pressure instead of sitting in a box.

“It’s a little bit of a different look, but at the same time we know we’ve got to pressure hard,” Jonathan Toews said. “We know from being on our power play that we don’t like that pressure.”

The Hawks couldn’t have got off to a better start, with Toews scoring on a penalty shot just 64 seconds into the first period. The Hawks were awarded the penalty shot after Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi covered the puck in the crease.

Toews beat goalie Martin Biron with a snap shot between the pads.

“I definitely felt a little pressure with the team being in this situation,” Toews said.

The Hawks rode the momentum of Toews’ goal to a 4-0 lead, with Nick Leddy scoring at 2:07, Patrick Sharp at the four-minute mark and Marian Hossa at 9:38.

“They outplayed us in the first period, no question,” Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said. “Whether that’s because they’re desperate, I don’t know. I think that was a big part of it.”

Quenneville felt Toews’ penalty-shot goal gave everyone immediate confidence.

“When a team is not winning, if you miss it might put a little frustration in our game,” Quenneville said. “He made it, and we took off.”

It was 3-0 when the Hawks killed the four-minute Rangers power play after a penalty to Andrew Shaw and two to John Scott.

Under a little-known NHL rule, the Hawks had the option of being short-handed two men for two minutes or one man for four minutes. Toews made the smart choice of being short-handed one man for four minutes.

Corey Crawford was solid all night with 22 saves. Quenneville was asked if the slumping Crawford needed the win.

“We all did,” Quenneville said. “What we went through, we never want to come back here again.”

tsassone@dailyherald.com