POINT STREAK EXTENDS TO 5
Victory vs. Flames is Hawks’ fourth in last five games
If you’re wondering, yes, the Blackhawks always do keep an eye on the standings, even in the early weeks of the long season.
And after a quick look around the Central Division before the Hawks’ 5- 1 victory Tuesday against the Flames, their stumbling start doesn’t look all that bad.
The Predators, the trendy pick to come out of the Western Conference, are jockeying with the injuryravaged Stars, the reigning division champs, for last place. The Wild and Blues rode red- hot starts to the top of the division but are likely to regress to the mean. The Avalanche and Jets are fair to middling, as usual.
And then there are the Hawks— with all those rookies on the roster, all those terrible first periods and all those power- play goals surrendered — who suddenly are tied for first place.
And starting to round into form, no less. They’re 4- 0- 1 in their last five games.
‘‘ We had some ups and downs early in the season, but hopefully we can build off the last couple of games and just turn it in the right direction,’’ defenseman Brent Seabrook said.
Their timing couldn’t be better. After a loose schedule in October, the Hawks are just starting one of the tougher stretches of the season. Their game against the Flames was part of six games in 10 nights. And after their home game Thursday against the Avalanche, the Hawks will play nine of their next 12 games on the road.
‘‘ We’ve got some-home- ice advantages here that we want to take advantage of, knowing that we’ve got a real tough road schedule at the end of the month,’’ coach Joel Quenneville said before the game. ‘‘ We know the standings are tight and everybody’s kind of bunched up in the same type of place, so hopefully we can put ourselves in a better spot here.’’
The Hawks are by no means flawless, and they’re hardly content. After their thorough 3- 0 victory Sunday against the Kings, the Hawks took a bit of a step back against the Flames. Though Patrick Kane’s dangling, dancing one- onthree goal with 1: 02 left in the first period gave them a 1- 0 lead at intermission, the Hawks were outshot 13- 6 in the first, the eighth time in 10 games that has happened.
The Hawks continued to chase the puck in the second period, and the Flames tied the score 1- 1 on a short- handed goal by former Hawks penalty- killer Michael Frolik. But Artem Anisimov extended his point streak to eight games with a power- play goal at 7: 44 of the third, redirecting a perfect centering pass from Kane past Brian Elliott to make it 2- 1.
Tyler Motte scored an insurance goal five minutes later on a spectacular individual effort, charging past and around defenseman T. J. Brodie before kicking the puck to his own stick and tucking it in past Elliott. Artemi Panarin and Niklas Hjalmarsson added goals late. Kane finished with a goal and two assists.
Just as encouraging as the victory itself, the Hawks killed off all four of their penalties, making it nine consecutive successful kills for what had been a historically bad start for the PK. Granted, the Flames have an abysmal power play, but they did score two of their four power- play goals this season Oct. 24 at the United Center. Progress is progress.
‘‘ We’re playing better,’’ Kane said before the game. ‘‘ Especially the last couple of games, there’s been some progress.’’