It didn’t take long for the Blackhawks to erase any fear they would lose momentum during their Christmas break.
The Hawks picked up right where they left off as they scored 1 minute 13 seconds into Friday night’s 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers before a franchise-regular-season-record crowd of 22,712 at the United Center.
The triumph extended the Hawks’ winning streak to a team-record-tying eight consecutive games, matching the mark set during the 1971 season and done again in ’81. Their fifth victory in a row at home extended the Hawks’ points streak to 10 games (9-0-1).
Brian Campbell and Dave Bolland each had a goal and an assist and Andrew Ladd, Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg added goals to improve the Hawks’ record to 11-1-4 at home and 19-6-7 overall. Martin Havlat and Patrick Kane each collected two assists.
Playing for the first time in five nights, the Hawks jumped on a Flyers team that experienced travel problems earlier Friday and was unable to take a morning skate.
“They had some problems with their plane, so they didn’t get to skate after the two days off,” Havlat said.
“It was an important start for us to go up 2-0. Tonight everything went right. There are still a lot of things we have to improve and try to get better every night.”
Early on, Havlat sent a shot that Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron got a piece of before it went right to Ladd, who knocked in the rebound to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. Ladd extended his points streak to a season-high six games, in which he has two goals and six assists.
“We came out with lots of energy,” Ladd said. “We needed to continue to play the way we had been skating, pressuring the puck all over the ice.
“We did a really good job of that. When guys had chances, they finished.”
Sharp kept the Hawks’ good times rolling 1:22 later with his team-leading 19th goal to make it 2-0. Kane stole a Flyers clearing pass and found Sharp alone between the circles. Sharp picked his spot and fired a wrister over Biron’s left shoulder into the top right corner of the net.
After Philadelphia, which had defeated the Hawks the last six times they had played, got a Mike Richards goal, the Hawks’ defense stepped up. The Flyers had one shot on goal in the second period, and it came with 1:48 remaining.
Campbell gave the Hawks a 3-1 lead early in the third while on a two-man advantage with a shot from the top of the right circle.
Just less than four minutes later Versteeg also tallied with the Hawks on a five-on-three. Versteeg scored from left of the net off a rebound of a Dustin Byfuglien shot.
Bolland boosted the lead to 5-1 exactly a minute later when Campbell sent a pass to the center between the circles and Bolland converted.
The crowd eclipsed the previous regular-season mark of 22,690 set Oct. 25 against the Detroit Red Wings.
Makings of a great 8
During the Hawks’ eight-game win streak, their penalty killing has been almost as important as their offense:
GOALS SCORED
HAWKS 36
OPPONENTS 11
POWER PLAY
HAWKS 10-39
OPPONENTS 1-27
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ckuc@tribune.com
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