Hawks believe, rise to occasion

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It wasn't necessary for any of the Blackhawks' leaders to stand up before Friday's game against the Blue Jackets and speak of its importance.

"It was pretty much understood," said Brent Seabrook, one of the Hawks' captains. "You don't need to tell any of the guys around here what needs to be done. I think everybody battled and played real well and acted like professionals tonight."

In a game they had to have with their playoff hopes flickering, the Hawks jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period and held off the Blue Jackets for a 6-3 victory that snapped their losing streak at four.

And so the never-say-die Hawks aren't dead yet. They moved back within 5 points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 75 and pushed past Columbus and Edmonton into 11th place.

The Hawks have 10 games to play, with three of the next four at the United Center.

"There's 20 points still out there," said goalie Patrick Lalime, who came up big in a 29-save performance. "We still believe in this room here, and we're going to do everything we can to get the job done."

The Hawks came out meaning business and took a 1-0 lead at the one-minute mark when Cam Barker ripped a slap shot past goalie Pascal Leclaire.

Duncan Keith followed with a power-play goal at 11:21, set up by Robert Lang, then Dave Bolland made it 3-0 at 13:12 when he banged home a Patrick Kane rebound.

Bolland's goal, the Hawks' third on 6 shots, sent Leclaire to the bench.

The Blue Jackets wouldn't go away, though, twice creeping to within a goal at 3-2 then 4-3. Both times the Hawks answered to regain the momentum.

"I thought we sat back a little bit too much in the second period, but we did a good job responding and, obviously, Patty mad some big saves," Barker said.

"Every time they seemed to get a little momentum, we came back and scored big goals," Lalime said. "That was key."

It was 3-2 in the second period when Kane scored his 17th goal at the 12-minute mark.

Then after Rick Nash scored through a screen at 7:15 of the third period to cut the Hawks' lead to 4-3, Dustin Byfuglien scored his 17th goal three minutes later on a feed from Andrew Ladd.

"I thought when we got it back to 3-2, we were going to win," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Then to come back and make it 4-3, and to give it up that quickly for the fifth, we turned it over four times. We were really poor in our own zone."

Ladd sealed the deal with a power-play goal with 3:23 to play. The Hawks were 2-for-3 on the power play.

"We kept our composure," Hawks coach Denis Savard said. "I liked our poise that we had. We never panicked and kept going at them and got a good result.

"We were ready to play, bottom line. Everybody played a solid game. That's what we needed to do and that's what we've got to continue to do to get to the playoffs."