Scott Powers, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Hawks pull together complete effort in win

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks set the bar for themselves on Tuesday.

After four games in which they weren’t completely satisfied with their play, the Blackhawks finally put together a complete effort Tuesday in a 4-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville was pleased with everything, from the power play to the penalty kill to the goaltending to the defense to the quantity and quality of the shots by all four of his lines.

“I thought it was our best game,” said Quenneville, whose team took 35-plus shots on goal for the fourth time this season. “I thought we were better in all aspects of our game, more consistent throughout the game. Second period, a little bit of tough stretches, but we did a lot of good things. Nice to see the power play be productive as well. I think [if] you look at all areas, tonight we were pretty pleased.”

The Blackhawks' power play had been a train wreck on Saturday. They struggled in every facet while going 0-for-5 against the Nashville Predators.

Quenneville stuck with the same power-play units Tuesday, but he said he would have blown those up -- as he often does with his lines -- if he didn’t see results early against the Flyers. The Blackhawks’ first power play set a positive tone for the evening, as Patrick Kane scored 15 seconds into it. A puck ricocheted off the end boards to him, and he knocked it into the net. Kane came through with a second power-play goal in the third period, when he hit in a loose puck at the net.

Aside from Kane’s goals, the Blackhawks’ power-play units were better all the way across the board. They won faceoffs, had clean entries, moved the puck, shot and got to the net for second opportunities.

“It’s kind of the way it looks, like we’re going to score on the power play if we’re getting to the net, crashing, maybe getting some shots through from the point,” Kane said. “Anytime you’re taking shots and converge on the net and have that extra guy out there, some plays are going to open up. Keep trying to improve on that, but I think it was a good bounce-back game for us in that regard.”

The power-play goals evidenced another emphasis the Blackhawks had placed coming into the game. Quenneville wanted more of his players to go to the net and create second-chance opportunities. The Blackhawks had the quantity in their past few games but weren’t getting the quality.

The Blackhawks’ third line was especially effective at getting to the net against the Flyers. Quenneville moved Brandon Saad from the second line to the third prior to the game, and Saad’s presence clicked with Bryan Bickell and Brad Richards. Saad put in a loose puck at the net for one goal and set up Bickell in the left circle for another.

“I know we have a lot of talented players who can make great plays,” Bickell said. “We need to get grounded and put pucks at the net and get greasy goals like Kaner’s and Saader’s to really get us confident. If we do that, it’s really going to open ice for us and make opportunities.”

The Blackhawks pleased Quenneville with their overall play.

“I thought we had some guys play the way we were hoping,” Quenneville said. “Bick, Richards and Saad line tonight was very good for us. You get rolling, and all the lines, you get some familiarity, some predictability, [and] hopefully we get that pace.”

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