Playing in the uncharted territory of a three-game losing streak for the first time this season, the Blackhawks returned to something familiar Saturday night to help them find their way.
Coach Joel Quenneville reunited the line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp against the Blues, and the trio, which has been together off and on the last three seasons, responded with a combined five points to lead the Hawks to a 2-1 victory before a crowd of 19,150 at Scottrade Center.
Sharp and Toews each had a goal and assist, Kane added an assist and Antti Niemi was outstanding in goal to lift the Hawks to victory for just the fourth time in their last nine games. They improved to 38-15-5 overall and 17-9-3 on the road as they avenged a 3-2 loss to the Blues Wednesday night at the United Center. The Hawks now lead the season series over St. Louis 3-1.
“We started to have success together a long time ago, and every time we’ve reunited we’ve found a way to spark something,” Toews said.
“It’s a fun line to play on, that’s for sure,” Sharp said. Niemi was terrific in his first action since Jan. 23 against the Canucks. He had been yanked from that game after yielding three first-period goals in a 5-1 loss to the Canucks, and Cristobal Huet started the next five games. Niemi had been scheduled to start Wednesday night but became ill and missed that game and two days of practice before serving as Huet’s backup during Friday night’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Coyotes.
“It was one of those games, you could call it a goalie win for us,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We were coming off some disappointing games, and it was a heck of a hockey game. The crowd was into it and the building was alive.”
The Finn made a habit of denying the Blues’ Brad Boyes in this game, stopping the center in the first minute from in close and then coming up big by flashing his left pad for a stop during an early third-period St. Louis power play. Boyes also had a goal disallowed in the second period when he scored shortly after play was whistled dead.
Niemi, who improved to 14-4-1, also denied Patrik Berglund on two backhand attempts midway through the second.
He got offensive support from Sharp and Toews in the first. Early in the period the Hawks captain sent a nice pass from behind the St. Louis goal to Sharp, and the winger tipped in his 17th of the season past Chris Mason.
Toews scored his 19th with a little help from the Blues. T.J. Oshie tripped over teammate Roman Polak, and the loose puck went right to Kane, who broke in two-on-one with Toews. Kane flipped the puck to Toews, who scored to give the Hawks a 2-0 advantage.
“It was good to get two goals early, and as a team we did a good job hanging on,” Toews said.
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Big number: 2.8
Colin Fraser’s shooting percentage entering Saturday’s game. He had two goals on 72 shots.
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ckuc@tribune.com
