Chicago Blackhawks power play a strength this season

Of all the amazing feats the Chicago Blackhawks have pulled off this season, perhaps none is more astounding than this:

After 67 games and with just one month left in the season, they own the No. 1 power-play unit in the entire NHL.

Numero uno. Kings of the mountain. Best of the best.

The Hawks surged into first thanks to converting on two of three chances in Sunday's 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. That moved their success rate up to 24.1 percent, which is slightly better than Anaheim and Washington, both checking in at 23.8 percent.

The numbers get even more impressive when you consider that in the last 49 games, the Hawks have hit on 37 of 139 power-play chances, or 26.6 percent.

Putting that in context, the only team with a better conversion rate than that over the last 25 years was the Capitals (at 26.8 percent) during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign.

“They're very good on the power play,” said Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill. “We struggled against it obviously. I think that's probably what's separated them through the season.”

Trying to contend with Brent Seabrook's slap shot, Duncan Keith's vision, Artemi Panarin's one-timer, Jonathan Toews' brain, an evolving Teuvo Teravainen and Andrew Shaw and Artem Anisimov's annoying net presence is no easy task.

Now, throw in Patrick Kane, who leads the league with 32 points with the man advantage and good luck!

Of course, many of those players have been staples on the power play for years, but the electric chemistry between Panarin and Kane — with a dash of the shot-screening Anisimov — is the lethal TNT mix blowing up the league.

“You slip for a second and they'll put it in the back of the net,” Detroit defenseman Mike Green said.

Over the last 40 games, the Hawks are an astounding 16-1-1 when scoring at least 1 power-play goal and 11-11 when they have none.

It's the last nine games, though, that they've taken it to levels where it almost seems unfair, going 14-for-28. In those games, the Hawks have 30 total goals, meaning 47 percent of their scores have come on the power play.

So what the heck is going on? Toews says it boils down to confidence.

“When you have a stretch where pucks are going in, it just adds to the rest of your power play,” he said. “I mean, what you do with the puck, your breakouts, your entries, retrieving pucks, especially off of initial shots that don't go in. …

“The more you have the puck, the more you create those chances. It kind of snowballs, and it's obviously going the right way for us.”

Here's a weird, perhaps unsettling, fact for Hawks fans, though: No Stanley Cup champion since the 2008-09 Pittsburgh Penguins possessed a top-10 power play. During the Hawks' three title runs, they finished 19th last season, 18th in 2012-13 and 15th in 2009-10.

So does that mean the Hawks are doomed? Is this a harbinger of things to come?

Of course not.

But in the playoffs, if teams do a better job of defending the Hawks 5-on-5, or the refs swallow their whistles a bit more, things could get a little rougher for Toews and Co.

For now, though, the Hawks will take it while it lasts.

“It certainly helps our offense, helps the skilled guys. They get confidence and they want the puck and it translates to having patience and doing good things when you're 5-on-5 as well,” Quenneville said. “It's been really consistent this year; nice to have two units where you could start either one.”

If the Hawks finish No. 1 in the power play, it will be the first time they've done so since 1994-95. That team reached the conference finals and was eliminated by Detroit in five games.