Five Things from Blackhawks-Sharks: The kids deliver in the clutch again

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Five Things to take away from the Blackhawks' 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night:

1. The kids come up big again.

For the second straight game, a Blackhawks rookie delivered in the clutch. Vinnie Hinostroza, who scored the game-winning goal in Saturday's 6-4 win over St. Louis, found the back of the net once again and added an assist on Ryan Hartman's goal that turned out to be the game winner.

Hinostroza was rewarded by being promoted to the second line with Artem Anisimov out, and logged a season-high 15:52 of ice time. Hartman turned in his first multi-point effort of the season, and snapped an 11-game goal drought.

2. Fatigue not an issue for Scott Darling.

Despite starting in his ninth consecutive game — and second in as many nights — Darling showed no signs of fatigue, turning aside 33 of 34 shots, including 27 of 28 in the final two periods. His record improved to 10-2-2 on the year while bumping up his save percentage to .927, which matches Corey Crawford's.

Perhaps the most important sequence came late in the second period when Darling denied a flurry of Sharks chances that could have easily made it a 2-0 game, but instead, the Blackhawks went the other way shortly after and tied it up that killed any momentum San Jose was building.

[SHOP: Gear up, Blackhawks fans!]

3. Duncan Keith scores first goal of the season.

Finally. After going 33 straight games without a goal to start the year, Keith snapped his drought and he did so at a perfect time. It evened up the score at 1-1 just when it looked like the Sharks would extend their lead after hitting the post twice in the same shift shortly before Keith blasted one home from the point.

Keith's career-low goal total in an 82-game season is six in 2013-14. He said after the game that it wasn't weighing on his mind, but it certainly doesn't hurt to contribute in the goal column.

"Obviously it was a while, so it was nice to finally get one and contribute to a big win against a good team," he said.

4. Artemi Panarin climbing in the NHL's scoring race.

Panarin added two more assists, extending his point streak to five games. He now has 11 points (four goals and seven assists) during that stretch, and increased his point total to 34, which ranks No. 1 on the team and tied for third in the NHL with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

5. Blackhawks' penalty kill unit out of the basement.

The Blackhawks killed off both penalties in Sunday's win, and officially no longer own the worst penalty kill unit in the league at 73.9 percent. Buffalo is now in the basement at 73.6 percent.

In October, the Blackhawks allowed 15 power-play goals on 30 tries. Since then, they've killed off 53 of 62 penalties for an 85.4 percent success rate. That's more like it.

"That start was, it was hard to believe that it got to be that bad," Quenneville said. "I've never seen numbers like that. ... The PK is night and day compared to the way it started."

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