Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane trying to rekindle old chemistry

Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane came into the NHL together. They helped transform the Blackhawks organization together. They won Stanley Cups together. They basically grew up together. But this idea that they have some telekinetic link that creates instant offense every time they’re put on a line together? It just doesn’t work that way.

Even superstar running buddies need time to figure things out.

“It’s kind of like a work in progress,” Kane said. “It’s been a while since we’ve really played together. Sometimes you have to almost think about how we played with each other five or six years ago, or however long ago it was.”

With Toews stymied and the Hawks sputtering two weeks ago, Joel Quenneville went against one of his most sacred coaching tenets and put his two biggest stars together on the Hawks’ top line. It’s the first time the the two have been on the same line together — aside from the occasional post-penalty-kill shift — for any extended period of time in the regular season since the Hawks’ first championship run in 2009-10. Since then, Quenneville has been adamant about keeping them apart, forcing opponents to pick their poison rather than load up to shut down one super line.

It figured to be a short-term move at first, a way to jump-start Toews. But Quenneville is loath to change the lineup when things are working, and, boy, are things working. The Hawks have won all six games since the move was made. Toews, who had no goals and two assists through the first seven games, has four goals and four assists since the move. Kane has three goals and five assists in that span. And perhaps most importantly, Marian Hossa has been rejuvenated in Kane’s usual spot alongside Artemi Panarin and Artem Anisimov, with five goals and two assists in the six games.

With Anisimov leading the league in goals and points, and Panarin chugging along at a point-per-game clip, the Hawks have finally found a way to have balance in the lineup AND have Kane and Toews together.

“Usually, if things are going well and you’re winning games, you’re not going to switch too much up,” Kane said.

Despite all the wins and points, Toews and Kane — who played with Richard Panik for the first five games but spent the latter half of Sunday’s win over Dallas with rookie Nick Schmaltz — are just now starting to get that familiar feel for each other. They’re both different players than they were six years ago, and while the chemistry has been instant, it hasn’t been consistent.

“It seems like every other game, there’s a lot of flow,” Toews said. “We get the puck a lot, we’re keeping the puck a lot. And then some games, it’s like you’re chasing it all night.”

For Kane, playing with Toews is a lot different than playing with Panarin. Toews forechecks with abandon, and likes to set up behind the net. Panarin, meanwhile, thinks and plays the way Kane does — looking for sneaky back-door setups and one-timers. So when Kane is carrying the puck, his safety valve is in a different spot than he became used to last season, when he won the scoring title and the Hart Trophy as league MVP. Meanwhile, the more creative Kane doesn’t crash the net with the power and tenaciousness of Hossa, Toews’ longtime right wing. So it’s been an adjustment for both.

A little selfishness wouldn’t hurt, either.

“When we’re playing with each other, sometimes you kind of defer to the other guy a little bit instead of taking control yourself,” Kane said. “If we get back to that a little bit, things will open up and we’ll start to create a little more, too.”

Quenneville has remained non-committal about the new lines, joking that “long term” for Hawks lines is a relative term. His ideal lineup still has Toews on the top line and Kane on the second line, and if and when the Hawks hit an inevitable rut, Quenneville likely will jump at the chance to split them up again.

But so far, even the quibbling Quenneville can’t argue with the results. And considering Toews and Kane feel they’re just starting to recapture that sixth sense that was the hallmark of their early years in the league, Quenneville might just have to leave things the way they are for a while.

“If our line can set the tone, or create more, have more shifts in their end, it’s going to be good for our team in the long run,” Kane said. “And I don’t have a problem with [being separated from Panarin]. It could be a great thing for our team, and one of those things that you didn’t really expect to happen.”

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com

Twitter: @marklazerus