The last time the Blackhawks won 11 straight games, the winning streak was part of a 21-0-3 start to the 2012-13 season that helped them earn the Presidents' Trophy and win the Stanley Cup. After matching that franchise-record streak with a 5-2 victory against the Canadiens at United Center on Sunday, the Blackhawks aim to use their current 11-game win streak as another springboard.
Toews scored his 18th and 19th goals in the second period to give the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead. Montreal cut it to 3-2 at 10:22 of the third on a power-play goal by captain Max Pacioretty, but Chicago responded 1:11 later on a goal by Patrick Kane. The NHL's leader in points (69), goals (29) and assists (40) took a feed from rookie left wing Artemi Panarin and one-timed the puck past Canadiens goalie Ben Scrivens to make it 4-2. Marian Hossa, who already had two assists, scored into an empty net with 1:24 left to seal the win.
Recently acquired Richard Panik opened the scoring with his first goal as a Blackhawk. Goalie Corey Crawford, who's from a suburb of Montreal, made 27 saves and is 5-0-2 in seven career appearances against the Canadiens. Crawford has won eight straight starts.
Scrivens made 28 saves in his third start for Montreal, which got goals from Pacioretty and Lars Eller. The Canadiens lost their fourth straight game and are 3-6-1 in their past 10. They lost both ends of a road back-to-back this weekend after losing 4-3 in overtime at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. The Blackhawks swept the season series against Montreal after winning 2-1 at the Bell Center on Thursday.
Panik and Eller scored in the first, which ended with the score tied 1-1 and the Blackhawks ahead 10-6 in shots. Toews broke the tie at 13:38 of the second with a power-play goal and made it 3-1 at 18:39. The power-play goal was scored 18 seconds after he was released from the penalty box and capped a power play that resulted from Tomas Plekanec high-sticking Hossa in the face.
Hossa, who also caught a stick in the face in the previous two games, created the scoring chance by hopping on a turnover in the Canadiens' zone. He drew two defenders to him and sent Kane a pass on the right wing. Kane sent it back the other way to Toews, who got off a shot that slid back to Hossa for an attempt at the right post. As the puck approached the goal line, Toews stuffed it home for his 18th goal.
Toews scored again with 1:21 left in the period, beating Scrivens with a backhand off a loose puck in front of the net. It was the sixth game during the streak that Toews' line, which includes Hossa and Andrew Shaw, scored a goal.
Chicago is averaging 3.91 goals a game during the win streak and improved to 28-3-2 when scoring the first goal.
Hawks Quotes
Jonathan Toews: "We're on a bit of a roll right now. It's great to be playing the way that we're playing right now, given the fact that these are all very important games and it's a very busy time of year, obviously. So from now until at least the All-Star break, we'd love to continue that pace and keep the momentum that we have right now."Patrick Kane: "We're not having to work as hard at trying to get pucks back, and when we get it, we keep it for longer. We're keeping plays alive. We're able to find guys with time and space, and get them away from pressure in the zone, and eventually we're going to get confidence. We're feeling confident around the net right now."
Joel Quenneville: "I think the balance is one thing that sticks out. Every night is a little bit different, but net-net, I think we're playing responsible, playing the score, playing the time and got some momentum."
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien: "We just played, first of all, the Stanley Cup champion ... and I believe they look better than last year. They play with a lot of confidence. They kill [penalties], they make plays in tight, they have some really quality hockey players over there. They're tough to play against."
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