Mixing it up with five things on the Chicago Blackhawks

It's been awhile since I unveiled a Five Things column, but this is a good time for one, a day after the Blackhawks may have righted their listing ship with a 3-2 victory over Florida.

Movin' on up

It was quite a night for Patrick Kane, who was honored with a pregame ceremony for his 1,000th game and then proceeded to dish out 2 assists. The superstar winger moved into fourth place among American-born skaters in total points with 1,066. He trails only Mike Madano (1,374), Phil Housley (1,232) and Jeremy Roenick (1,216).

Although the United Center was devoid of fans, the Hawks did their best to make Kane's night special by:

• Having everyone wear 88 jerseys during warmups.

• Flinging pucks to Tommy Hawk in the 200 section after warmups - a tradition Kane began before the third home game.

• Allowing Kane's parents, son and girlfriend to join him on the ice. Kane's mom and dad unveiled a print to commemorate their son's achievement.

• Having Duncan Keith skate over and present his longtime teammate with a Tiffany crystal.

Coach Jeremy Colliton - while acknowledging it would have been nice if the United Center was full - admitted it was "kind of cool" to have a smaller, intimate ceremony for the future Hall of Famer.

"It was really just the team out there," Colliton said. "There was a few extra people, but I was thinking while it was happening (that) it was kind of a nice moment. Obviously our group, they think a lot of Kaner and it was our chance to recognize him. So he'll get his big celebration, but I thought it was kind of neat."

Let's get physical

After getting pushed around by Tampa Bay in two games over the weekend, the Hawks showed more fire and grit against the hard-hitting Panthers. Connor Murphy and Nikita Zadorov (9 hits combined) were particularly active and took exception to some chippy play on a number of occasions.

Mattias Janmark also got into it with Radko Gudas after Gudas crunched him twice in a matter of seconds. The second hit forced Janmark's head into the boards, which prompted Janmark to say, "What the (bleep) was that?" Somehow, no penalty was called.

This is the kind of response the Hawks need to show down the stretch. Enough of the laissez-faire attitude when confronted by more physical teams.

Screen plays

After a strong start to the season, Kevin Lankinen was 3-5-1 with an .893 save percentage and 3.64 goals against average in his previous nine games before Tuesday. Lankinen doesn't dwell on the numbers, but he admitted he went to work with goaltending coach Jimmy Waite to get better at tracking pucks through screens.

"That's today's NHL," Lankinen said after making 33 saves against Florida. "Everybody has a couple good screening guys, especially on the power play. So you just gotta work hard to find the puck and make those saves because that's why you're out there."

Two of Lankinen's best stops came with just more than 13 minutes remaining as he staved off an Aaron Ekblad shot, swept away the rebound, then managed to deflect another Ekblad offering with his leg while sprawled out on the ice.

"That was just something else from the toolbox," he said with a smile.

One smart cookie

It's time to check Brandon Hagel's stick to see if there's a magnet in there because every single time the rookie is on the ice the puck seems to find him. Hagel (3G, 7A last 20 games) set up Dominik Kubalik's first-period goal with a gorgeous saucer pass and also had plenty of scoring chances throughout the game.

"It starts with his skating and his work ethic and his compete," Jeremy Colliton said. "He really is relentless. Obviously it puts him in good situations. ...

"He's a smart kid. He really thinks the game well. He's getting better all the time. His experience in the league, he's using it to understand what he can and can't pull off. He's been good for us."

Building momentum?

The Hawks (15-13-5, 35 points) have had a tough time with the division's best teams, going 1-5-1 against Tampa Bay, 1-3-1 against Florida and 1-1-1 against Carolina. Jeremy Colliton is hoping the win Tuesday is a sign of things to come, especially with Columbus (13-13-7, 33 points) and Nashville (15-17-1, 31 points) on the Hawks' heels.

"We definitely wanted to beat them," Colliton said. "They got the better of us here four times. But probably more so where we're at in the season and schedule and coming back home here, just establishing momentum again.

"It's a lot easier to keep momentum than to gain it from a stop. So I think the overall performance was important for our group and finding a way to close it out."