OFFENSIVE LINE BACK ON TRACK
Panarin, Anisimov, Kane rolling again after prolonged slump
The man on his left has been trying to crack the top 10 in scoring among forwards to trigger a sevenfigure bonus. The man on his right has been trying to reach 100 points for the first time and become the first American to win the scoring title.
But Artem Anisimov hasn’t been counting along with Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane. He’s just worried about his own game, and the line as a whole. The individual stats will follow.
“I don’t actually think about that stuff,” Anisimov said. “I just think about our game, how we need to play. If we play the right way, they’re going to reach those milestones easily. They’re so skilled, they can make all those plays.”
Anisimov said that on Friday morning in Winnipeg, when things looked a lot bleaker for the Blackhawks’ vaunted second line. At that point, Panarin had no goals and two assists in nine games. Kane had one goal in his last 10. And Anisimov had virtually gone missing, with one goal and five assists in his previous 19 games since a four- point night in Dallas on Feb. 6. In his first 55 games, the big Russian center had 18 goals and 14 assists.
Then, just as Anisimov predicted, everything came together. In the last two games, both Hawks victories, the trio has combined for eight goals and 10 assists. Panarin has posted back- to- back four- point games to get back in position for his bonus. Kane had a hat trick Sunday to reach the 100- point plateau. And Anisimov is back on track, clearing room for his linemates and cleaning up rebounds in the crease.
Good thing, too. Without that line scoring at will, the Hawks’ offense had looked anemic, scoring two goals or fewer in seven of 10 games.
“It’s always a good thing for us when they’re on the scoring sheet,” Niklas Hjalmarsson said. “That whole line was carrying us through pretty much three- quarters of the season. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know where we’d be in the standings right now.”
Given the skill of the wingers and the sneaky strong play of Anisimov, it took a long time for the league to figure out how to slow down the trio. But the more they scored, the more attention they got from opponents’ top defenders.
“When the season started, nobody knew how to play against us,” Anisimov said. “By now, they’ve watched the tape and are prepared for our line. So it gets a little bit harder to score. We just need to find a way.” Kane agreed. “We realized teams were kind of defending us a little bit differently, so we had to adjust some things,” Kane said. “It comes down to just working hard and battling for the puck because when we get that puck back, we feel we can make plays and create a lot of offense.”
With few exceptions, Joel Quenneville has stuck with that line all season, a rare constant for a coach with a notoriously itchy trigger finger. He shrugged off the second line’s recent funk as part of the regular ebbs and flows of a hockey season, and stood by Anisimov even as his numbers dropped off.
And if the last two games were any indication, the Hawks’ second line — their only line, really, for much of the season — is finding its groove again. And with the playoffs barely a week away, not a moment too soon.
“It’s been a little frustrating,” Anisimov said. “But we just need to get our minds ready for the playoffs. The excitement level builds, and it’s a fun time of year. We want to be ready.”
NOTE: Marian Hossa, who left the game Sunday against the Bruins with an apparent leg injury, is questionable for Tuesday against the Coyotes. Joel Quenneville expects him to return before the playoffs. Corey Crawford is on pace to play Saturday in Columbus.