CHICAGO _ When the Blackhawks are playing bad, the gripes are many _ they are too slow, they need help on the blue line, they're relying too much on Corey Crawford.
But all that has a tendency to go away when the Hawks' big-name, big-money players play up to their reputations.
On Sunday, it was Patrick Kane's turn to take center ice, as the winger scored a pair of goals in a 4-1 victory over the Wild. The Hawks won their fifth consecutive game as Kane scored his 298th and 299th goal, moving him past Dennis Hull into fifth place on the franchise's all-time goals list.
After the Blackhawks defeated the Panthers on Tuesday for their third consecutive win, coach Joel Quenneville stood at a podium in the United Center and grumbled that the Hawks still needed to be better. Despite the win streak, the Hawks had just gotten by teams at the bottom of the standings. Up next on the schedule was three consecutive games against division opponents.
The Hawks picked a good time to find their stride.
They followed an impressive win over the Jets on Thursday with another strong effort over the Wild.
The Hawks got on the board first after a nice bit of transition hockey with Patrick Kane and Artem Anisimov. Kane dished to Schmaltz on the left wing and with the Wild settling into their zone, Schmaltz found an opening in the defense and glided a perfect cross-ice pass to Kane, who didn't miss his one-time attempt. It was Kane's 13th goal of the season and second in as many games.
The Wild had moment in the first period when they got pressure on Hawks goaltender Corey Crawford, especially in the opening minutes, but Crawford didn't bend in the crease as he made 13 saves.
Kane would score in the second on a breakaway after a pass from Jordan Oesterle while Ryan Hartman and Tommy Wingels also scored.
