Red-hot Toews doing it all for streaking Blackhawks

As captain of the Blackhawks, Jonathan Toews always seems to knows the right things to say.

Just don't ask him a lot about himself.

Toews would much rather talk about the Hawks' six-game winning streak than his personal accomplishments.

There's not a player in hockey hotter right now than Toews, who has:

Ÿ Five goals in the last three games.

Ÿ Thirteen points in the last seven games.

Ÿ A combined 8 goals and 15 assists in the 14 games since the all-star break.

“It's pretty amazing; Johnny's got it going on for sure,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Johnny's just a horse out there.”

Linemates Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane can't say enough about Toews, who is putting himself right in the mix for the Hart Trophy as league MVP with a little more than a month left in the season.

“He's playing great,” Sharp said. “He hasn't really changed his game too much. He's feeling good about himself offensively and the puck's going in.”

Toews has thrown the team on his back and helped move the Hawks from 12th place in the Western Conference to a playoff spot at the moment.

Not only has Toews shown the way on the ice, several times he has stepped up in the dressing room at critical times in games and said things that needed to be said.

“That's one thing you want in a captain, to be able to do that,” Kane said. “He faces a lot of different situations, whether it's the media or different things around the team, how we're playing, or with the coaches.

“He's got a lot on his plate and he seems to handle it real well, and not just the way he's playing on the ice. I guess you can say his personality off the ice and how he controls himself in the room with the team has been top notch too.

“He's been awesome, especially the last month after the all-star break,” Kane said. “Not only that his leadership off the ice too, he's been really good in every area.

“You've got to be proud of the way he's handled himself this year with the ups and downs from the beginning of the season to where we are now. He's pretty much stayed the same guy.”

Added Quenneville: “Johnny's best leadership qualities is how he competes and how well he prepares himself and how he wants to be the best every day that he can. Having a new team around him with a lot of new guys, a quieter group, he's probably absorbed some more responsibility that he probably didn't have to deal with last year. And the frustration of maybe not winning at the same rate, he puts a lot of pressure on himself as well.

“He's a great pro and he's learning as we go along what he can do to make the team be at his best. We always tell Johnny just worry about playing hockey and the other things will take care of themselves.”

Toews is quick to credit Kane and Sharp for his hot streak. The line has been dominant more nights than not since Quenneville reunited the three offensive stars on Feb.9 at Edmonton.

Toews went into Thursday's games 10th in the league in scoring with 63 points. Sharp was 14th with 59 points and Kane 21st with 55.

“As a line it doesn't matter who's scoring goals, me, Sharpie or Kaner,” Toews said. “I think as a line we've been contributing a lot and I owe a lot to those guys.

“I would say I changed my game a lot. You focus and you bear down on your opportunities and the puck happens to go in. You feel a lot of confidence when things go your way and people are going to notice. I would say that's the only difference out there.

“You don't get those chances without two great players out there making those plays. We just feel so comfortable together right now and we're making things happen for the team.”

So is Toews MVP material? The Professional Hockey Writers Association will decide that after the regular season.

“He's at that level now where he's a force and we're very happy and I'll let everybody else make those final awards,” Quenneville said.