CHICAGO _ Never mind the Original Six. The Blackhawks are in seventh heaven.
The Red Wings paid their only visit to the United Center on Sunday, a sad circumstance for traditionalists who wish for more games between these Original Six franchises.
But the relic of a rivalry was of secondary importance to the red-hot Hawks, who rode veteran goalie Cam Ward's 43 saves and kept their playoff push going by beating the Red Wings 5-2 for their seventh straight victory.
It's the Hawks' longest streak since winning seven straight from Feb. 19 to March 4, 2017. They will try to make it eight in a row Tuesday against the Bruins.
"Let's keep this thing rolling," Ward said.
The Western Conference wild-card race is so bunched up that with 55 points the Hawks are both four points from the bottom and four from the first wild-card spot. But don't feel bad about checking the standings; you're not alone.
"I check the standings, yes," Ward admitted. "We know where we're at and what we need to do. With that being said, you control what you can control and that's how you perform and how you prepare and the guys are doing the right job right now."
The line of Dominik Kahun, Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat was dominant with each finding the scoresheet on the Hawks' first three goals. Kahun had two goals and an assist, Strome had a goal and two assists and DeBrincat assisted on all three of the line's goals.
They had their best game of the season, but they've been a big part of the Hawks' success since coach Jeremy Colliton put them together, not coincidentally, seven games ago.
How have they been doing it? Kahun isn't quite sure.
"That's a good question," Kahun said. "We had some good games before, we're all young guys and we just communicate off the ice a lot. Maybe it's that because we just have good chemistry off the ice."
With 28 goals each of the last two seasons, DeBrincat has been the breakout star of the trio and Strome is finally living up to the pedigree of being the third overall pick in the draft four years ago. The Hawks signed Kahun as an undrafted free agent last year without any promise that he would make the team.
But Kahun's talent has been evident from the start of the season, though he hadn't yet had a game like Sunday's. In the first period, his quick stick allowed him to score after his initial shot came back to him off the skate of a Red Wings player.
His second goal was the bigger one, coming on a backhander in the third period to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead.
"He's such a good player," DeBrincat said. "He can just make those little plays so well and he makes the game easy. He's a very good passer and as you see today he can still bury the puck too. To have that double threat is pretty great."
Sunday's win wasn't secure until Patrick Kane scored on a breakaway with 3 minutes, 33 seconds remaining to extend his point streak to 14 games. Jonathan Toews added an empty-netter, his 25th goal of the season, to provide the final margin.
That insecurity is nothing new for the Hawks, who are in no position to be content with three teams above them in the race for the final wild-card spot.
"We're not where we want to be," Colliton said. "We've got to keep getting better. We can, there's more. So we're happy we won, we got the two points we dearly needed and we'll go back to work tomorrow and get prepared for Tuesday and that's the mentality we should have as a group."
