Five Things from Blackhawks-Leafs: Powerful power play

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Well, that was a little more like it.

The Blackhawks were getting frustrated with their latest home stand, which wasn’t resulting in a lot of points. But they looked more like themselves on Monday with their 7-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And it came just in time for them to hit the road again. So before we do the same, let’s look at Five Things to take from the Blackhawks’ victory over Toronto.

1. The power play works. Toronto got into penalty trouble and the Blackhawks made them pay for it: They had seven power plays and capitalized four times. For a team that’s been struggling to get goals in any form at home lately, taking advantage of power plays was a welcome sight.

2. Scott Darling has a strong outing. Darling was getting his first start since Jan. 22 and he didn’t disappoint, stopping 35 of 37 shots. His best stop was a sprawling glove save in the second period, which drew a “wow” from coach Joel Quenneville after the game. Thanks to a not-so-busy schedule the rest of the way, Darling may not get many starts. But he needed a good performance when he did, and he got that on Monday.

[SHOP: Gear up, Blackhawks fans!]

3. Patrick Kane has a four-point night. Kane keeps establishing new career highs in goals for a season – he’s now up to 34. But his three assists have him closing in on a career best in that category, too. Kane now has 48 assists this season, just 10 shy of the career mark he set in 2009-10.

4. Brandon Mashinter gets his third goal of the season. There are a few folks who get aggravated when Mashinter is in the lineup. Why? The fourth liner chipped in his third goal of the season on Monday to start the Blackhawks’ offensive outburst. He thought he had another later but it clearly hit the post and stayed out. The Blackhawks have been looking for secondary scoring all season. If he can help stoke the fourth line into adding some of that, great.

5. Teuvo Teravainen gets back on the board. Teravainen has gotten some good opportunities as of late – subbing for Jonathan Toews in Colorado earlier this month and getting some second-line time when Artemi Panarin was out last week. The goals, however, weren’t coming. But Teravainen scored a 5-on-3 goal on Monday, giving him his first goal since Jan. 6. Will that spark Teravainen? Hey, sometimes it just takes one. And Quenneville deemed Richard Panik’s outing on the top line as, “OK,” so don’t be surprised if Teravainen gets the next crack at it.

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