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 that has played together off and on the last three seasons responded with 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 an assist, Kane added an assist and Antti Niemi was outstanding in goal to lift the Hawks to their fourth victory in their last nine games. They improved to 38-15-5 and 17-9-3 on the road as they avenged a 3-2 loss to the Blues on Wednesday night at the United Center.
“We started to have success together a long time ago, and every time we’ve reunited we’ve found a way to spark something,” said Toews, who scored the Hawks’ second goal of the first period off a nice pass from Kane while the pair moved in two-on-one on Blues goaltender Chris Mason. “(Saturday night) it happened for us early in the game. It was good to get two goals early, and as a team we did a good job hanging on.”
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, and Cristobal Huet started the Hawks’ last five games. Niemi, who made 34 saves to improve to 14-4-1 on the season, had been scheduled to start Wednesday but had the stomach flu. The Finn served as Huet’s backup during Friday night’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Coyotes.
Niemi made a habit in this game of denying the Blues’ Brad Boyes, stopping the center in the first minute from in close and then coming up big by flashing his left pad for a save during an early third-period power play. Boyes also had a goal disallowed in the second when he scored shortly after play was whistled dead.
Niemi was particularly effective while the Hawks were short-handed. He worked with the penalty-killing units to thwart seven of the Blues’ eight power plays. The Blues ruined Niemi’s bid for his fifth shutout when they scored with just less than two minutes remaining in the third while on a two-man advantage.
Sharp got the Hawks headed in the right direction early in the first when Toews found him in front with a nice pass from behind the Blues’ goal.
“It’s a fun line to play on, that’s for sure,” Sharp said of the grouping with Toews and Kane. “The message from the coaching staff was just to be aware defensively, focus on our own end and we should have no problem creating offensively.
“(Saturday night) was a must-win, and we wanted to have a good effort against a tough opponent. Getting the early lead was big, and we battled the rest of the way.”
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Big number: 2.8
Colin Fraser’s shooting percentage, with two goals on 72 shots.
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ckuc@tribune.com
