Kane nets hat trick, gets 100th point in Blackhawks victory
There are the days that — as Chicago sports fans — we all remember.
Days like …
• Dec. 12, 1965, when Gayle Sayers scored 6 touchdowns for the Bears.
• Oct. 7, 1984, when Walter Payton broke Jim Brown's rushing record.
• May 7, 1989, when Michael Jordan eliminated the Cavaliers with “The Shot.”
• June 14, 1998, when Jordan fired over Utah's Bryon Russell to deliver the Bulls their sixth NBA title.
• June 24, 2013, when the Blackhawks scored twice in 17 seconds in Boston to win the Stanley Cup.
• And April 3, 2016, a day Blackhawks fans might just remember for a generation or two. A day in which Patrick Kane scored 3 goals and added an assist in a 6-4 victory over Boston to become the first Hawk in 22 years to record a 100-point season.
Kane's day is one that may not quite match up with the others, but to understand the magnitude of his feat, consider this: He is just the fourth player in the last five full NHL seasons to hit the century mark.
The others? Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Vancouver's Daniel Sedin.
He's also the first Hawk since Jeremy Roenick in 1993-94 to hit 100 points.
“It's special. That's kind of a mark you always kind of dream of hitting, and for it to happen this year in front of the home crowd with a few games left is pretty special,” Kane said.
Fittingly, the 100th point came on a pass from linemate and good friend Artemi Panarin on a 2-on-1 breakaway 14:16 into the second period. It gave the Hawks a 6-0 lead, and it was Kane's third goal of the game. He now has two regular-season hat tricks in his career, both this season.
“I had some of my close friends and some family … my sister is in town … so it was fun to do it in front of them,” said Kane, who noted that his 100th point with the OHL's London Nights in 2007 also came on his third goal of a game. “The only bad thing was my dad wasn't here. I know he would have loved to see it, (both) my dad and mom.
“That's unfortunate, but I'm sure they're having fun watching it on TV.”
The Hawks' other goals came from Artem Anisimov, Panarin (who also had 3 assists) and Jonathan Toews.
No team in NHL history has come back from a 6-0 deficit, but Boston certainly made things interesting by scoring 2 goals in the last 16 seconds of the second period, then adding 2 more before the third period was half done.
“Way more exciting than we needed it to be,” said coach Joel Quenneville, who recorded his 800th career victory.
The only bad news to come out of Sunday's game is that Marian Hossa was injured midway through the third period when he collided with Frank Vatrano at center ice. Hossa did not return.
“He seemed to be OK,” Quenneville said, adding he will know more Monday.
The Hawks (46-26-7) sit 2 points behind the second-place Blues, who play at Colorado later Sunday.
Kane's first goal at 18:31 of the first period was a thing of beauty as he stole a pass at the Bruins' blue line, raced down ice on a breakaway and flipped his nearly unstoppable backhanded shot over the left shoulder of Tuukka Rask.
His second goal came 54 into the second period when Anisimov flipped a backhanded pass to Kane from behind the Bruins' net, and Kane flipped the puck past Rask to make it 3-0.
Kane, Panarin and Anisimov piled up 11 points and were a combined plus-8. Their re-emergence is critical for a Hawks team playing without Duncan Keith, Andrew Shaw and Corey Crawford.
“We realize teams were kind of defending us a little bit differently, so we had to adjust some things,” Kane said. “Overall I think it comes down to just working hard and battling for the puck because when we get that puck back we feel we can make plays and create a lot of offense.”
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