CALGARY, Alberta — With Jonathan Toews a late scratch due to illness Thursday against the Flames, Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson shuffled all four forward lines in warmups.
And then all four lines scored in a 5-1 Hawks win.
“We’re at our best if we can get all four lines, all six ‘D’ and the goalie drawn into playing composed and playing together,” Jason Dickinson said.
Added Richardson: “We had 20 guys going here tonight. We really skated from the beginning to the end.”
Dickinson moved up to first-line center and deposited a beautiful goal on a nearly-between-his-legs shot. Max Domi moved down into Toews’ second-line center role and earned an assist on Taylor Raddysh’s goal.
Sam Lafferty extended his red-hot stretch with a tap-in off a feed from Colin Blackwell, who came within inches of scoring several times himself. Their line with MacKenzie Entwistle was particularly dominant.
“Not a lot of swooping on lines like that,” Richardson said. “They go straight through you [and] play the body defensively, and I was glad to see them get rewarded.”
Boris Katchouk, making his first appearance since Jan. 3 scored for the fourth line — a goal on which recent call-up Luke Philp earned his first NHL point. Defenseman Connor Murphy also hit an empty net.
All these changes weren’t made until about 4:30 p.m. local time, when Toews started feeling “achy” and was ruled out. The Hawks had operated with completely different lines during morning skate. But it didn’t seem to matter.
Goalie Jaxson Stauber, meanwhile, remained undefeated through the first two starts of his blossoming NHL career by saving 34 of 35 shots, including 18 of 18 in the third period.
“[Stauber] was doing a really good job covering the puck up when he needed to,” Blackwell said. “He’s good at reading the play. And he did a really good job, too, of playing the puck to help our ‘D’ break the puck out.”
The Hawks’ January winning surge, written off for dead after the past two losses, apparently might not be quite done yet. They’ll enter a Saturday matchup against the Oilers — their last before the bye week — having won seven of their last 10 games.
Chasing Kane
Patrick Kane tallied one assist — setting up Dickinson’s goal — and two shots on goal Thursday.
That latter category has been scrutinized lately because he went consecutive games last weekend (against the Blues and Kings) with zero shots for just the second time in his career.
“[We’ve been] chasing the puck a lot and not [having] much puck possession,” Kane said Thursday. “When we do get it, we can do a better job of hanging onto it.”
The only other instance was in December 2010, but it really shouldn’t count. He was injured 23 seconds into the first game, and the second game came three weeks later.
He has been talking about needing to get more possession since November, but he hasn’t been able to resolve the problem. That has been reflected in his production: he’s on pace to finish with 56 points in 77 games this season, down from 92 points last year.
It might actually be unresolvable, considering the way this Hawks team is constructed. He has no choice but to keep trying to do so, though, and he did play well Thursday — he easily could’ve had two or three points.
“It has been not a great year, production-wise. It’s disappointing, for sure,” he said. “You get used to playing with certain guys [in] a certain style for two, three, four years. All of a sudden, it’s different. It’s not like it’s any worse or better; it’s just different.
“You have to learn...how to go to the right areas, be in the right spot for your teammates. I know it has been over half the season, but some games it clicks, some games it’s been a little bit different.”
