Toews helps fire up Blackhawks in win over Maple Leafs

Jonathan Toews wears many hats for the Blackhawks.

Enforcer is not normally one of them, but the team's captain will wear it when he has to and proved as much just 32 seconds into the Hawks' 5-4 victory over Toronto at the United Center on Sunday.

Incensed over Jake Muzzin's crunching hit on Brandon Saad behind the Maple Leafs' net, Toews immediately went after Muzzin and tossed the 6-foot-3, 217-pound defenseman to the ice.

While it earned Toews a four-minute roughing penalty and gave Toronto a power play, it also lit a fire under the Hawks.

And they used to storm out to a 3-0 first-period lead on goals by Patrick Kane (at 5:18), Kirby Dach (at 12:00) and Kane again (at 12:10).

"No question it has a big effect on the team when a guy of his stature (does that)," said coach Jeremy Colliton, whose team has won three of five and is now 6-7-4. "I mean he certainly doesn't need to do that. But it sends a pretty big message when he does."

Said Toews, who gave the Hawks a 4-1 lead with his third goal of the season late in the first period: "I felt Saader took a high hit where he was reaching for the puck. So I just kind of reacted to the situation. ...

"We're all up on the bench when we're doing stuff like that - whether it's guys blocking shots or taking hits to make plays - we're trying to do the little things right to get our guys going."

Alex DeBrincat (3 assists), Dylan Strome (2 assists) and Toews (assist) had multi-point nights, and Robin Lehner made a whopping 53 saves in net to improve to 4-3-2.

Kane, who now has 8 goals and 11 assists on the season, is riding a six-game point streak. His second goal marked the fifth time since 1989-90 the Hawks scored twice in 10 seconds or less.

Toronto (9-6-4) got a pair of goals from William Nylander and fired 26 of its 57 shots on net during the third period, 3 of which found their mark. Andreas Johnsson made it 5-4 on a power-play goal with 41.8 seconds remaining, and Auston Matthews (4 assists, 10 SOG) nearly tied it with nine seconds left but Lehner managed to keep it out of the net.

"Our goaltenders have been huge and Robin was incredible again tonight," Toews said.

Dach's goal was the second of his career. Saad now has 6 scores on the season, three of which came in the last four games.

Up next for the Hawks is a brief two-game road trip to Vegas and Nashville.