Patrick Kane’s hat trick leads Hawks to eighth win in nine games

The Blackhawks are starting to look like the Blackhawks again.

They have a top line again, with Nick Schmaltz and Richard Panik providing needed stability and playmaking ability for Jonathan Toews. They have a four-line rotation again, with Marian Hossa bolstering the bottom six and Tanner Kero providing depth in the middle. And more than anything, they have the puck again. A lot.

After chasing the puck for much of the past season and a half, the Hawks are starting to regain control.

“We were very inconsistent early [in the season], and we were defending way more than we were accustomed to,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “You’re vulnerable for penalties, you’re vulnerable for quality scoring chances against and [you’re] not generating enough. I think that’s the progression in our game now. It seems like all four lines are having the puck and having some zone time and having some rush chances.”

The 6-3 victory Thursday night over the Coyotes certainly wasn’t the cleanest game the Hawks have played in this stretch, but it continued two important trends — lots of goals, and goals from everywhere. Most importantly, it was the Hawks’ eighth win in nine games.

Patrick Kane scored three goals, the Hawks’ second hat trick in as many games after Toews’ three in Minnesota. The top line stayed red hot, with Schmaltz (on his 21st birthday) posting a goal and an assist, and Toews added two assists. Fourth-liners Ryan Hartman (goal and assist) and Kero (assist) chipped in, as well. And -Michal Rozsival, playing for the first time since Jan. 15, had the game-winning goal, his first tally of the year.

Kane said the dominant play of the Toews line has inspired the rest of the team.

“It gives you some motivation, too,” Kane said. “You see the way they play — they control the puck, they’re fending off checks, get to the net. It’s definitely a little bit of motivation. It couldn’t come at a better time, especially with this stretch run, where we need to win games going into the playoffs. Those guys have been playing awesome. They’ve been leading the charge, and [we] just try and follow.”

The Hawks didn’t own the puck Thursday the way they have recently (outshot 37-29), but the numbers back up Quenneville. There has been no greater predictor of postseason success in recent seasons than puck-possession proxies, such as Corsi, which measures shot attempts. From 2009 to ’14, the Hawks never finished worse than sixth in the league in Corsi and won three Stanley Cups in the process. Last season, they were 15th in the league, taking just 50.65 percent of the total shot attempts. This season, at the All-Star break, they were still 15th, at 50.49 percent.

Since the All-Star break, they’re sixth in the league with a healthy 52.61 percent of the shot attempts. Not coincidentally, it has translated to goals (up to 4.1 per game from 2.8) and wins (they’re 8-2-0 since the break).

No line has seen a bigger surge in offensive-zone time than Toews’ line, which was strong again.

“We’re playing with a ton of confidence because we have the puck a lot,” Toews said. “You’re not afraid to make a mistake or give up the puck if you know you’re going to get it back right away. If you’re chasing it around all night and you don’t have it, then when you finally get it, you kind of put pressure on yourself to make the right plays and not make mistakes. It’s probably the case for the rest of our team right now.”

The top line’s emergence also takes pressure off Kane’s line to produce and forces opponents to pick their poison with their shutdown line, opening things up for the other lines. It all adds up to more puck control, more scoring chances and more wins.

Follow me on Twitter @MarkLazerus.

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com