Another game, another hat trick for the Blackhawks.
With the way the Hawks are rolling right now it seems like you could expect one every game. On Tuesday, it was captain Jonathan Toews who scored three goals against the Wild. Not to be outdone, Patrick Kane lit the lamp three times Thursday against the Coyotes for his third career regular-season hat trick and first since April 3 last season.
"We were kind of laughing about that on the bench after I scored the third one," Kane said. "It's funny how it worked out. … You can look across the board at (Toews') line — they've been playing awesome. I'm just trying to contribute in any way I can and hopefully let them lead the way and just follow up after that.
With coach Joel Quenneville only dressing 11 forwards on Thursday, Kane did some double shifting and two of his goals came without his usual linemates Artemi Kolaybet Panarin and Artem Anisimov. The first game off a feed from Ryan Hartman as Kane beat Mike Smith short side 16 minutes, 41 seconds into the first. In the second, he waited for Tanner Kero on a rush chance, looked like he was going to pass then fired the puck five-hole on Smith at 12:41. Then at 9:49 in the third he sent home a shot from right circle with Panarin and Anisimov on the assists.
There's one thing Kane has on Toews — all of Kane's goals came with a goaltender in net. Toews had an empty netter in his hat trick.
"You look at a hat trick, it doesn't matter any way you can get it," Kane said. "It's always nice to get that third one no matter which way."
Kane now has the team lead in goals with 23, overtaking Anisimov and Marian Hossa, who have 21.
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