CHICAGO _ The Blackhawks accomplished in 59 minutes, 59.2 seconds Saturday night what they hadn't in their previous six games combined _ they scored more than two goals in a game.
That helped propel them to their first victory in nine games, 7-1 against the Capitals in front of a season-high crowd of 22,066 at the United Center, where the Hawks hadn't won since Jan. 12.
Jonathan Toews' "Why not?" shot 6:19 in against the Capitals accidentally made its way past Braden Holtby from the right side for their first score, and Toews' second goal in 17 games.
A little more than six minutes and a tying goal from the Capitals' Tom Wilson later, Brandon Saad socked away his second goal in two games after going 16 games without one.
Seconds after Tommy Wingels' shot at an open net was deflected by defenseman Dmitry Orlov, Nick Schmaltz pasted one past Holtby with 0.8 seconds left in the period to make it 3-1.
"It's kind of like being in a goal slump," Toews said Friday of the team's losing streaks. "Sometimes you just need something to go in. You don't really care how it happens, and when you do (score), the feeling comes back that all your hard work is going to pay off for something."
The Hawks don't have much, save for pride, to salvage from this season.
Going into Saturday they had scored two or fewer goals in 13 of their last 16 games. All they had to show for the last 10 times they had scored first was a 2-6-2 record.
"Looking at not even a month ahead, or a couple weeks ahead, you always say win or lose you like the group you have on your team," Toews said. "You're going to cultivate the potential and what you're capable of doing and just work with that. I'm going to focus on my game, focus on the now."
Not even Patrick Kane has been immune to the Hawks' scoring allergies.
Kane had just one goal in his last 13 games, and none in his previous five, going into Saturday.
But that changed when he deposited a rebound of Toews' shot late in the second period to put the Hawks up 4-1. Kane also earned his 500th career assist on Artem Anisimov's goal that made it 6-1 with 1:31 left in the second period.
The three-time Stanley Cup winner, a past scoring champion and league MVP, said a season of despair such as this wears even on his confidence.
"Sometimes when things aren't going in, you're maybe thinking of things in the back of your mind a little bit," Kane said Friday. "Overnight it's not like you just become a bad player or a bad team. You still have to have confidence in yourself and feel like you're a good player."
Kane has been the team's best during this trying season.
So it's no coincidence that the Hawks were 2-9-2 during Kane's 13-game goal-less stretch.
"Kaner's always going to find a way to be productive and score goals and make plays," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said Friday.
For good measure, Ryan Hartman added his first goal since Dec. 29 as the second period wound down. Artem Anisimov netted his second in 19 games to complete the three goals in 2:07 span. Kane picked up his 500th career assist on the score, which put the Hawks ahead 6-1.
Alex DeBrincat made it 7-1 in the third, his 22nd of the season, tying him with Kane for the team lead.
DeBrincat retreated to the locker room shortly after he was hit by Wilson, who received a 10-minute misconduct penalty, with just under four minutes left.
