Nice bounce-back effort by Hawks

There was a lot to like about Tuesday's 5-2 win by the Blackhawks over the Vancouver Canucks that snapped a four-game winless streak.

The first line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa each scored a goal, the third line got 2 goals and an assist from Brandon Saad, and Michal Handzus was finally a factor and the fourth line continued to contribute defensively.

Goalie Corey Crawford rebounded from a shaky start to outplay Team Canada's Roberto Luongo and get the victory.

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville, who moved into sole possession of third place on the NHL's all-time wins list with his 693rd victory, raved about the fourth line of Marcus Kruger, Brandon Bollig and Ben Smith and the job they did.

“That line was great,” Quenneville told reporters. “That line has been good for a long stretch of time here. They don't even need to be productive offensively to reflect how well they've played. We start them out in our end and they usually wind up in their end. They had some high quality chances and were very dangerous.”

Not as dangerous as the top line, which dominated in a 4-goal second period that brought the Hawks back from a 2-0 deficit.

There hasn't been a more productive line in the NHL over the last few months than Toews, Sharp and Hossa.

“We had a great momentum swing in the second period,” Toews said. “Scoring 4 goals like that was huge for us. The biggest thing we've had trouble with lately is not having those moments where we've played well. We haven't been able to hang onto leads and play the right way. I think we made an effort to change that tonight.”

Through it all the Hawks have never lost their confidence that they can win.

“The confidence is always there,” Toews said. “We know what we're capable of as a team and sometimes things don't go well for you and when you don't get the results it's not easy to play through.

“I think tonight we found a way to overcome some of those tough moments we've had in the last couple weeks. We'll chalk that up as a good win and carry that on to the handful of games on this road trip.”

The Hawks don't play again until Saturday night in San Jose. After that they get the Kings and Ducks.

“I think things went very smoothly for us during the first part of the season,” Quenneville said. “Going through what we are right now, you find out about everyone. We still think that stretch hasn't been bad, but it feels so much better when you get this type of effort and the results as well.”

Crawford played one of his better games since returning from his injury.

“I think maybe we were a little flat at the start, but we try to have no excuses,” Crawford said. “We played really well for most of the game. That was a fast pace, which is something we're used to. Our speed was definitely there and we were putting the puck in the right place when the game was on the line.

“We've given up quite a few leads in the third period so I think tonight we were focused to close that one out.”

ŸLeft wing Bryan Bickell was a healthy scratch at Vancouver for the second time in three games.

Ÿ Follow Tim's hockey reports on Twitter @TimSassone.