Kane, Toews lift Blackhawks past Blue Jackets to end 8-game skid

CHICAGO -- Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and two assists, and the Chicago Blackhawks ended an eight-game skid with a 5-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at United Center on Friday.

Max Domi had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks (8-20-4), who had lost 16 of 17 (1-15-1). Alex Stalock, playing his first game since Nov. 1 because of a concussion, made 27 saves.
"Good first period by our group, got to get into it, get back up to speed," Stalock said. "They had some looks, but I thought we played a great game, we played fast. They got some power-play chances, but I think you could ask the group, they'd say we loved the way we competed tonight.
"We made plays; it was fun hockey to watch from my end and it was good to see guys sticking up for each other. You get in ruts like this and it's hard in any sport, in anything in life. We found a way tonight. We had some tough practices to try and battle our way out of it. Tonight was good."

Daniil Tarasov made 16 saves on 20 shots for the Blue Jackets (10-21-2), who have lost six in a row. He was replaced by Joonas Korpisalo at 3:24 of the second period, and Korpisalo made 17 saves.
"It's never easy, especially when you get called into the game," said Korpisalo, who sustained a lower-body injury Dec. 9 and missed six games. "It means that things are not going our way. I just tried to make a difference out there."
Kane gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 13:29 of the first period on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle. It was Kane's first goal since Dec. 3 after going eight games without one.
"It feels good to get a win and feel good about the team's effort, and individual efforts across the board, as well, before we go into break," Kane said. "So, definitely [a] feeling that hopefully we can get more of in the second half of the season.
"It's always nice to produce. I felt like even after the last game (a 4-2 loss against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday), you start feeling good that hopefully things are coming and probably could've had a few more tonight as well."
Domi made it 2-0 at 16:00 on a one-timer after Kane skated in with the puck from the blue line and passed to Domi in the right circle.
Andreas Athanasiou extended Chicago's lead to 3-0 at 2:31 of the second period. Ian Mitchell won the puck along the right-wing boards at center ice and passed to Sam Lafferty, who fed Athanasiou.

Taylor Raddysh scored at 3:24 to make it 4-0, scoring from the slot on an assist by Toews following a drop pass from Philipp Kurashev.
Tarasov was pulled after the goal.
Kirill Marchenko's power-play goal at 13:48 brought Columbus to within 4-1, a wrist shot from the left circle after he took a pass from Marcus Bjork.
"Way too late, right?" Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. "Actually, the first 4-5 minutes we were fine. Then they scored one, and we gifted a couple of goals right away. And then we chased it until about the 10-minute mark of the second. Then we started to play, but it's too late."
Larsen said he was encouraged by Korpisalo's play.
"He looked good," Larsen said. "I thought it was important for him to get in and get some minutes. Maybe that's the one positive out of this."
Bjork's goal at 3:21 of the third period made it 4-2 when he scored on a wrist shot after moving in from the right point.
Toews scored on the power play at 12:16 after he took a pass from Kane in front of the net.for the 5-2 final.
"We definitely needed it," Toews said. "It's nice to see pucks go in and hard work being rewarded a little bit. There's no replacing finding that success in games like that, when things have been going the way they've been going. It feels good as a group."
NOTES: Blue Jackets defenseman Adam Boqvist played his first game since Oct. 25, when he sustained a broken foot. He had 20:09 of ice time. Columbus activated Boqvist and Korpisalo off injured reserve and placed forward Cole Sillinger on IR. Goalie
Jet Greaves
was assigned to Cleveland of the American Hockey League … It was Kane's 103rd career game with at least three points, tying Mike Modano for the second-most by a U.S.-born player. Pat LaFontaine has the most (116).