DALLAS — The Blackhawks aren’t just playing their best hockey of the season at the moment.
They’re also playing some of the best hockey in the NHL, as strange as that sounds.
The Hawks rallied from three goals down to stun the Stars 4-3 on Wednesday, completing a sweep of three games against three top playoff contenders — Toronto, Vegas and Dallas — within a four-day span. They’ve now won four in a row overall and boast a 12-7-1 record since Jan. 5, which equates to a 114-point pace over a full season.
“We just found a way to beat two of the best teams in the West on a back-to-back with travel in there, very limited sleep,” Max Domi said. “That’s mental toughness, and you need that to win in this league. They’re getting firsthand exposure to that, so it’s great for our group.”
Added coach Luke Richardson: “I’ve said it all year, these guys don’t quit. ... Once we got a little stiff and we got that first goal, they really started believing and they started working for each other. It was a real positive vibe on the bench tonight.”
The line of Domi centering Patrick Kane and Philipp Kurashev led the way, collectively scoring three times in a span of less than eight minutes in the second period and then once more early in the third to rally the Hawks from 3-0 down.
In spite of swirling trade rumors, Kane’s production has skyrocketed the past few weeks. He has seven goals and 10 points in his last four games, while Domi has three goals and 11 points in his last five games. They each scored twice Wednesday.
“When ‘Kaner’ is feeling it and he’s burying the puck like that, it’s fun to watch, fun to play with,” Domi said. “He’s obviously a superstar, so it just puts energy into our group and everyone really feeds off that.”
The Stars pushed late and nearly equalized the game twice. But there was no conclusive evidence the puck crossed the line on their first opportunity, and the clock had expired a second before their second opportunity entered the net — not dissimilarly from Kane’s overturned overtime goal Tuesday.
“We got a little bit of luck at the end of the game with some of the calls,” Richardson admitted. “I think they were the right ones, but an inch away or a second longer, we could’ve been playing overtime.”
Hawks goalie Jaxson Stauber made 29 saves, including 15 straight to end the game, to improve to 5-1-0 in his career to date.
