Patrick Kane gets hat trick in Blackhawks win

CHICAGO -- Patrick Kane had a hat trick to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to their third straight victory, 6-3 against the Arizona Coyotes at United Center on Thursday.
Kane has 23 goals after scoring in the first, second and third periods for his third regular-season NHL hat trick and first this season.

"It feels good," said Kane, whose hat trick came two days after Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews had one in a 5-3 win at the Minnesota Wild. "I think I'm] the beneficiary of some nice plays by my teammates tonight. Couple fortunate bounces too, but I thought overall our team played a pretty strong game."
**[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Blackhawks highlights**
Rookies Nick Schmaltz and Ryan Hartman each had a goal and assist for the Blackhawks (38-18-5), and Toews had two assists. Michal Rozsival also scored for Chicago, which won for the eighth time in the past nine games (8-1-0). Corey Crawford made 34 saves.
"Well, tonight pucks went in," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought we were a lot looser [defensively] than in recent games, but we like the balance in our lines. We get scoring from [Toews'] line and [Kane] comes up with a hat trick. We're getting scoring from across the board."

Jakob Chychrun, Ryan White and Radim Vrbata scored for the Coyotes (21-31-7), who got 23 saves from Mike Smith.
Each team scored three goals in the first period on a combined 23 shots.
Schmaltz gave Chicago a 1-0 lead 37 seconds into the game with a one-timer off a feed from Toews. Chychrun tied it at 7:36.
Hartman put the Blackhawks up 2-1 at 10:28 with his 15th goal, and Kane made it 3-1 at 16:41. White and Vrbata scored 57 seconds apart in the final 2:18 to tie it 3-3.
Rozsival made it 4-3 with his first goal of the season at 2:56 of the second. Kane scored his second of the game at 12:41, and his third put the Blackhawks up 6-3 at 9:49 of the third.
"We got a couple goals late there [in the first]," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "I don't think anyone expected it to be 3-3 after the first period, but both [teams] made a couple of mistakes in coverage early on. We kept making them and not getting saves, and the game ended up where it did. It was a poor game right from our goaltender out."
Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson left in the first period with an upper-body injury and didn't return. He played five shifts.

Goal of the game

Schmaltz's goal was the result of three high-skill plays. Blackhawks forward Richard Panik created a 2-on-1 by sending Toews a pass to the Arizona blue line off the boards in the neutral zone. Toews threaded a cross-ice pass to Schmaltz, who scored his sixth goal of the season.

Save of the game

Crawford, moving right to left, made a blocker save against Alexander Burmistrov's one-timer from the right faceoff circle at 1:39 of the third period to keep the Blackhawks ahead 5-3.

Unsung performance of the game

Burmistrov had two assists, three shots, three hits and went 5-for-10 on faceoffs in 17:20 for Arizona.

Highlight of the game

Kane's third goal came off a strong Chicago forecheck. Following a turnover in the slot, Artem Anisimov sent a pass to Artemi Panarin, who got the puck to Kane for a wrist shot from above the right faceoff circle.

They said it

"I think you have to realize they're maybe a Stanley Cup favorite again, or to go far in the playoffs. That shows you where the level is and where we need to get." -- Coyotes forward Radim Vrbata on the Blackhawks
"I'm not thinking. I'm just playing with my instincts, the way I know how to play. It's a lot more fun when I'm playing like that." - Blackhawks rookie forward Nick Schmaltz, who has nine points (three goals, six assists) in the past seven games

Need to know

Toews and Kane are the first Chicago players with hat tricks in consecutive games since Alexei Zhamnov and Eric Daze on April 11 and 13, 1997. ... Coyotes defenseman Alex Goligoski assisted on White's goal for his 300th NHL point. … Rozsival played for the first time since Jan. 15 against the Minnesota Wild. … Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith needs one point for 500 in his NHL career. ... Toews has 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in the past 13 games. … Schmaltz's goal came on his 21st birthday.

What's next

Coyotes: At the Dallas Stars on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the St. Louis Blues on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)