Scott Darling stars again as Hawks win in Jonathan Toews’ return

NEW YORK — If it were entirely up to him, Jonathan Toews would have been playing his usual 20-plus minutes Tuesday night against the New York Rangers, including as much time as he could get on the power play and penalty kill. Heck, if Toews operated in a hockey vacuum and didn’t have to worry about the big picture, he probably would have returned to the ice a whole lot earlier.

But Toews knows as well as any player in the league how the regular season is merely a warmup for the games that really count in the spring. And with the Blackhawks comfortably atop the Western Conference standings, there was simply no reason to rush him back from a minor but persistent back injury.

“It’s at the stage in the season where you don’t want to be playing through too much, because down the road, if whatever you’ve got keeps nagging you and keeps getting worse — you want to be as healthy as you can be come playoff time,” Toews said before Tuesday’s game at Madison Square Garden. “It’s nice to go out there and feel like there’s nothing on my mind. I can go out there and play my game.”

Toews muscled his way through traffic and won 8-of-13 faceoffs during more than 18 minutes of play, showing no ill effects from the back injury. And the Hawks did what they were doing when Toews was out, and what they’ve been doing all season — winning with great goaltending.

Less than a week after being outdueled by old teammate Antti Raanta, Scott Darling returned the favor Tuesday night in a 2-1 victory over the Rangers — the latest highly entertaining battle between the two speedy, skilled teams. Darling finished with 33 saves, including several down the stretch as the Rangers frantically pushed for the equalizer.

Darling has allowed two goals in his last three starts, four in his last four, and seven in the five games since Corey Crawford’s appendectomy thrust him into the starter’s role.

“He’s absolutely amazing,” said Artem Anisimov, pausing between each word for added emphasis “He plays great for us in the net. He makes huge saves in the key time. Amazing right now.”

Trevor van Riemsdyk joined the rush and snapped Raanta’s 176-minute shutout streak by smacking in an Artemi Panarin pass early in the second period, and Anisimov potted a pretty Brian Campbell feed from behind the net late in the second to give the Hawks all the scoring they’d need in a rollicking up-and-down affair. Given their respective spots in the standings, it’s also a tantalizing Stanley Cup Final possibility.

“It’s just fun to play against the New York Rangers, it’s fun to play at Madison Square Garden,” Darling said. “A lot of this is new and exciting for me. It’s only the second time I’ve played here. It was a fun game, it was a great hockey game and a big two points.”

Toews said he could play without any limitations, and that if he were to tone down his aggressive, defensive, grinding style of play, it would only leave him more vulnerable to injury. But Joel Quenneville kept a watchful eye on his all-important captain, and was trying to ease him back into the lineup. Toews still wound up playing 18 minutes, due to the down-to-the-wire nature of the game.

“I was hoping we wouldn’t get to 20 [minutes],” Quenneville said. “We’ll watch. We got everyone in the game, and four lines had some ice time there. That balance was good for us. May have been the one game all year where four lines were all playing almost equally.”

Brent Seabrook also returned to the lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury. That was expected. But the Hawks have been so cautious with Toews over the last three three weeks, that it was a bit of a surprise that he was back in the lineup so suddenly. He had missed nine games since suffering the injury in San Jose, the day before Thanksgiving. In his absence, the Hawks went 5-2-2. And in the long run, this three-week stretch could pay dividends for the Hawks, who have had to use younger guys such as Vinnie Hinostroza, Dennis Rasmussen and Hartman in bigger roles and more pressure-packed situations.

Without three of their biggest names — Toews, Seabrook, and Corey Crawford — the Hawks took three of four points from the Rangers and Dallas Stars. And they’re still on top of the Western Conference as they get closer to 100-percent healthy.

“I like to think we’ve got pretty good depth,” van Riemsdyk said. “When that happens, one guy’s not going to fill the role of those guys, of a Toews or a Seabrook. So it’s kind of a group effort to fill those roles, to fill those minutes. A lot of guys did a good job of stepping up and trying to fill those roles the best we could.”

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