Kane's goal as big as they get

It was after whistles Sunday that the St. Louis Blues had no trouble finding Patrick Kane to rough him up.

But when it counted before whistles, the Blues couldn't cover the slippery Blackhawks rookie.

Kane banged home a Niklas Hjalmarsson rebound 1:09 into overtime to give the Hawks perhaps their most dramatic victory of the season, a 4-3 thriller at the United Center that left them just 4 points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with six games to play.

In a game the Hawks needed to win, all appeared lost when the Blues' Keith Tkachuk scored on a breakaway following a Kane turnover on a mix-up with Jonathan Toews at the blue line with 1:18 to play to snap a 2-2 tie.

"All I was thinking about was Toews was sitting next to me on the bench and it looked like he was crying," Kane said. "I said, 'Oh, no.' I felt really bad."

But James Wisniewski tied it with 55 seconds remaining on a rocket from the high slot and the Hawks had new life.

"I was pretty happy on the bench to see that one go in," Kane said.

If the Hawks were happy when Wisniewski tied it, they became delirious when Kane won it. The Hawks have shaved 3 points off their playoff deficit in the last week.

"A lot of people probably thought that (Tkachuk) goal was the game-winning goal," said Adam Burish, who also scored along with Dustin Byfuglien. "But that's the character of this group of guys. When it's tough, when it's hard, that's when our guys rise up."

The Hawks are 4 points behind eighth-place Colorado, 2 in back of Nashville and 1 shy of Edmonton. All four teams have six games to play.

"These 2 points were a must," Wisniewski said. "When we were down 3-2 we could have pouted or whatnot, but our character is just too strong in here. We've been fighting and clawing all year long trying to stay in this playoff race. We never quit."

Patrick Sharp set up Wisniewski's goal with a pass while Andrew Ladd was causing traffic in front of Blues goalie Hannu Toivonen.

"The team just said, hey, there's plenty of time left, let's go get some shots on goal and see what happens," Wisniewski said. "We got a big goal, and that's probably the biggest goal of the year, that with Kaner's overtime winner."

Hawks coach Denis Savard had some choice words for the Blues after the game, pointing the finger at Barret Jackman and David Backes for cheap shots aimed at rookies Kane, Toews and Hjalmarsson.

"I'm ticked off at a bunch of their players taking shots at us, free shots," Savard said. "After whistles taking cross-checks behind the head, behind their backs -- Jackman a few times, Backes goes after Niklas Hjalmarsson. How tough is he? We'll figure it out someday."

Perhaps as soon as Saturday when the Hawks and Blues play again in St. Louis.

"Looking forward to it," Savard said. "We're not going to back down from anybody; that's what we're all about. Those kids have got lots of character and kept playing through everything. I'm glad we got the win, that's the most important thing."