Toews' nets hat trick in Hawks win

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Things haven't come easy for the Blackhawks this season, but that wasn't the case Wednesday night.

Led by Jonathan Toews' natural hat trick, the Hawks avenged 2 home losses to Edmonton by manhandling the Oilers 5-0 at Rexall Place in the opener of their six-game road trip.

This was men against boys.

“Overall we just played in their end most of the night,” said Patrick Kane, who assisted on 2 of Toews' goals. “Edmonton has had our number at home, so we were pretty motivated to come in and win this one.”

Toews scored the Hawks' first 3 goals on his fourth, fifth and sixth shots, making it 3-0 early in the second period.

It was 4-0 going to the third period after Patrick Sharp's short-handed goal with 1:03 left in the second. Sharp's goal was his 11th but first in nine games.

Bryan Bickell closed the scoring.

The Oilers, who have only 4 wins all year, have lost five games in a row and been outscored 30-8.

It could have been at least 8-0 if not for the valiant goaltending of Nikolai Khabibulin and some in-tight shots by the Hawks that missed the net.

“All in all, I think we played solid,” Toews said. “That's two good games in a row for us as a team. Personally, I want to keep playing that way and hopefully keep helping the team out offensively.”

The Hawks outshot the Oilers 47-18 with Marty Turco earning the 41st shutout of his career and first in a Chicago uniform.

“It's good to get the first one under the belt for sure,” Turco said. “As a group we take a lot of pride in racking them up for Corey (Crawford) or I, whoever is playing net.

“Defense is a pride thing, and tonight was a huge team win. Five goals is great, but it was signified better by a zero on the board.”

The Hawks swarmed the Oilers in the first period, outshooting them 20-4 and taking a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals by Toews.

After several near misses the Hawks took the lead on Toews' first goal at 14:24. He dug out a Brent Seabrook rebound in the crease and got it through Khabibulin.

A late cross-checking penalty on Theo Peckham against Sharp put the Hawks on their first power play.

The NHL's third-ranked unit cashed in with 46 seconds left in the period when Toews' centering pass hit the skate of defenseman Tom Gilbert and got past Khabibulin.

Toews completed the hat trick 1:12 into the second period when he took a pass from Kane alone in the slot and got all of a wrist shot past Khabibulin.

Oilers coach Tom Renney mercifully lifted Khabibulin after the second period.

“I thought we had the puck-possession game going a little bit better than we've seen most of the year,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “And we had a lot of offensive zone time, which enabled us to keep the chances and shots down in their end.”

It was the second hat trick for Toews in a regular-season game his first coming on Feb. 27, 2009, against Pittsburgh. He also had a hat trick in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals last spring at Vancouver.

While Turco didn't have a lot of work, he did make a key save on Dustin Penner short-handed in the second period when it still was a 3-0 game.