TORONTO _ It was a little more than five months ago that the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs put on a show to remember.
On Wednesday night, the Hawks decided to go out for an encore right away. The Leafs waited until the end.
The Hawks scored four first-period goals then held on for dear life to earn a much-needed 5-4 victory at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The Leafs scored three times in the third period on backup goalie Collin Delia after Corey Crawford left the game with an illness after two periods.
The Leafs had 30 shots on goal in the final period but couldn't get the tying goal despite a furious final few minutes. They outshot the Hawks 48-39 for the game.
With their fourth straight win, the Hawks moved within four points of the Coyotes for the final Western Conference wild-card spot with 12 games remaining. Each of the three teams ahead of the Hawks for that last playoff spot, including the Wild and Avalanche, were idle on Wednesday.
When the Hawks and Leafs met on Oct. 7, John Tavares had a hat trick and Auston Matthews and Patrick Kane playfully taunted each other in the Leafs' 7-6 overtime victory at the United Center. That was the Hawks' first loss of the season and helped pave the way for a hellish first half that led to the firing of coach Joel Quenneville and hiring of Jeremy Colliton as his replacement.
But after going 10-19-6 in the first 35 games of the season, the Hawks are 21-11-3 in their last 35 to move a game over .500 for the first time since Nov. 1.
Despite the turnaround that has them back in the playoff picture, the Hawks have largely beat up on lesser competition and were in search of a signature win to send a message to the rest of the league _ and perhaps themselves _ that they are for real.
A road win over the Leafs, who came into the game tied for the fifth-best record in the league and a 6-2-1 record in their last nine games, certainly qualifies as a signature win.
"Well, I think it's been a long process," Colliton said before the game. "Even as far back as mid-December. I think everyone's feeling more comfortable with how we've got to play to win."
The energy and determination the Hawks had with them during Monday's 7-1 pasting of the Coyotes was there in the first period against the Leafs, whose first shot on goal didn't come until they already trailed 1-0 on Duncan Keith's fifth goal of the season less than four minutes into the game.
Keith's wrist shot from just outside the left faceoff circle deflected off William Nylander's stick just enough to send the puck through Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen's pads where it trickled just over the goal line.
After Brendan Perlini made it 2-0 with his seventh goal in his last six games, the momentum nearly shifted late in the first period when the Leafs' Connor Brown sent a backhand toward a wide-open net. But Brent Seabrook lunged toward the puck, steering it away with his right glove just in time to save a goal.
Dominik Kahun made it 3-0 when he finished off a 2-on-1 with Kane by blowing a wrist shot past Andersen for his 12th goal. Less than two minutes later, Dylan Sikura won a puck battle behind the Leafs' net and fed it to Brandon Saad, who had all the time he needed to deke Andersen and make it 4-0. Alex DeBrincat's 38th goal of the season made it 5-0 midway through the second.
Crawford played his part in shutting the Leafs down when they had their chances. In the first, he stopped a point-blank shot by Leafs' leading scorer Mitch Marner and shortly after the second period got underway dove to his left to stonewall Nylander.
