Blackhawks make it 3 in a row - all without Kane - with win over Avalanche

Good friends Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have been Blackhawks teammates for 16 years, so they don't mind giving each other a hard time on occasion.

After the Blackhawks defeated Arizona 2-0 last Friday, it was no surprise when Toews approached Kane - who didn't play due to injury - and threw a verbal dagger that hit its mark.

"Hey, look. We're undefeated without you."

Or something along those lines.

Two days later, the Hawks shockingly defeated Calgary 4-3 in overtime - again without Kane.

So did Toews poke the bear again?

"I mentioned it after the first game as a joke," Toews said Thursday morning as his team prepared to host the Colorado Avalanche. "The second game I thought, 'Nah. That might be a little bit (too) sensitive of a subject.'

"So I didn't say anything. We'll see how it goes tonight."

No way could the Hawks make it three straight wins, right? Especially against the defending champs.

Right?

Wrong.

The Hawks did indeed improve to 3-0 without Kane by beating the Avs 3-2 thanks to goals from Sam Lafferty (5), Andreas Athanasiou (9) and Taylor Raddysh (11) - and a gutsy goaltender interference challenge by Luke Richardson with just 4:51 remaining.

The Avs appeared to tie the game at 3-3 at that point, but officials ruled that Mikko Rantanen's stick didn't allow Petr Mrázek (31 saves) to play his position prior to Alex Newhook's goal.

"When I first saw it, right away I saw Rantanen's stick pushing Petr's pad," Richardson said. "I wasn't sure where the puck was at that point, and the puck went in after right where his pad was. For me ... that's goalie interference."

Mrázek won for just the third time this season and also recorded his fourth career assist on Athanasiou's goal.

Kane was injured during the third period of a 5-2 loss to the Sharks on New Year's Day when he was hit along the boards. He played two days later against Tampa Bay, but sat out the entire third period. He was placed on injured reserve Thursday but could return to face Seattle on Saturday.

"I probably shouldn't have played the Tampa game," said Kane, who felt like he could have gone against Arizona and/or Calgary, but erred on the side of caution. "It's better for the long run. The last three days it's gotten better every day - even to the point where today maybe could have went.

"But it's smart to take an extra day and should be ready by Saturday."

If it's not, then it may be time to worry.

We don't know if Kane will waive his no-movement clause, but if he does teams will be watching closely to make sure he's healthy ahead of the March 2 trade deadline.

Kane has just 7 goals in 37 games, yet we all know he'd instantly help the championship odds of any playoff team.

Meanwhile, the Hawks have picked up their game in a big way. They are getting contributions from the entire lineup and playing exquisitely on the penalty kill. The Hawks went 5-for-5 on Thursday, with the biggest kill coming after Athanasiou took a double minor for high sticking in the first period.

"I've been talking about us being connected on the ice, but off the ice you can just feel it," Richardson said. "Walking into the video room the other day after a day off and two wins and (there was) that rumble where they're all talking and all together.

"I didn't even want to interrupt and start the meeting. I just wanted to listen to them and enjoy it.

"This time of the year is hard when you're losing, but it's a great time of the year when you're winning because it's the dog days. ... If you get on that cycle downward it becomes like that 'grrrr'. It's hard to get it going.

"But when you're winning, it feels effortless."