Ward makes 43 saves, Blackhawks top Red Wings for seventh straight win

CHICAGO --Cam Ward made 43 saves to help the Chicago Blackhawks to their seventh straight win, 5-2 against the Detroit Red Wings at United Center on Sunday.

Chicago (23-24-9), which lost five straight before the streak (0-3-2), last won seven in a row from Feb. 19-March 4, 2017. The Blackhawks have outscored their opponents 37-20 during the streak.
Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 14 game by scoring from the left face-off circle on a breakaway to make it 4-2 at 16:27 of the third period. He has 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists) in the streak and 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists) in his past 22 games.
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"The puck found him there at the end," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "I know he's got the streak going, so [I'm] glad he was able to get it. Some nights it's hard. I think there were some plays out there for him to make and the puck didn't go in the net for him, but he's always involved. When he's on the ice, the other team knows he's a threat and that's nice for us to have."
Dominik Kahun had two goals and an assist, Dylan Strome had a goal and two assists, Jonathan Toews scored an empty-net goal, and Alex DeBrincat had three assists for the Blackhawks.
"It's always a nice feeling when you score," Kahun said. "But I think more important we got our seventh win in a row. It's nice to win. Everybody feels that. It's fun to be winning and just hope that we can win another game in Boston."

Christoffer Ehn and Gustav Nyquist scored for the Red Wings (21-28-7), and Jonathan Bernier made 31 saves.
Detroit, which played the second game of a back-to-back (it lost 3-1 at the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday), is 3-3-0 in its past six games after going 3-9-2 in its previous 14.
Kahun gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 11:04 of the first period when his pass to DeBrincat on a 2-on-1 hit Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser and bounced back to Kahun.
Strome made it 2-0 at 18:03 owhen he scored from the left side of the crease after Kahun passed it to him on a 2-on-1 as they crashed the net.
Ehn made it 2-1 at 15:00 of the second period from the left circle after Kane turned the puck over along the boards in the defensive zone.
"DeKeyser made a good play on the blue line, creating a turnover," Ehn said. "I just came in, full stride, and picked up the puck. I think the shot hit off the defender and got a lucky bounce."
Kahun made it 3-1 at 7:45 of the third period, backhanding the puck between Bernier's pads.
Nyquist made it 3-2 at 15:30, shooting the puck over Ward's glove from the slot.
"I got the puck from (Nick) Jensen and I felt I didn't have a shooting lane, so I tried to fake it first," Ehn said. "It's not a goal if (Justin Abdelkader's) not in front there. The goalie doesn't seen anything, so give (Abdelkader) credit there."
Toews scored into an empty net off a pass from Kane for the 5-2 final at 17:59 of the third. He has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in a seven-game point streak.

They said it

"I love that we're playing for something and guys have that belief in the locker room that if we keep doing what we're doing we're going to give ourselves an opportunity. Obviously, you take care of what you can control and that's going out there and [winning] hockey games. We want to just keep this thing rolling."-- Blackhawks goalie Cam Ward

"Brutal start, not nearly good enough. As the game went along, halfway in we started playing with more jam, more competitiveness, more like we have the last month. The start to me, mentally, we weren't ready to go. We gave up more odd-man rushes in that period than we have in a long time, in multiple games." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

Need to know

Nyquist has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past 10 games. … DeBrincat has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in an eight-game point streak. … Strome has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past four games. … Kahun has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past four games. … Chicago forward Chris Kunitz is one game from playing 1,000 in the NHL. … Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad needs one point for 300 in the NHL.

What's next

Red Wings: At the Nashville Predators on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, FS-D, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks:At the Boston Bruins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, NESN, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)