Things seem to be going well for the Blackhawks lately.
Really well, in fact.
They’ve won seven of their last 10 games and seem to have found line combinations that can carry them through the playoffs. That was never more evident than on Tuesday night when the Hawks’ top grouping of Nick Schmaltz, Jonathan Toews, and Richard Panik torched the Wild for a combined 10 points, with Toews’ hat trick and two assists leading the way.
The highlights look even better than the numbers. On Toews’ first goal of the night, he out-battled Matt Dumba in front of the net to get inside positioning allowing the center to just tap in a Brian Campbell rebound for an easy goal:
A few minutes later, Toews found Panik alone just outside the slot and fed him for a quick wrist shot that went right over Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk’s left shoulder.