When Brandon Saad, Kirby Dach and Patrick Kane skated together on a line Saturday morning in Arizona ahead of taking on the Coyotes that night, Blackhawks nation let out a collective 'Hmmm.'
It just might work and it could be something special. Saad has been consistently good all season and had two goals in three games before the break. Dach, who has looked stronger up the middle each game and has been playing sound defensively, finally shook a scoring slump and had a goal and two assists in the two games before the break. Kane was riding an 11-game point streak into his ninth All-Star appearance and recently snagged his 1,000th career point.
The first game back after the break was as good a time as any to put the trio together. The Hawks had won five of six before the break and they were fresh. All three of the players — each with different obvious attributes — have been getting better and better.
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The line looked pretty dangerous throughout Saturday's game. Saad grabbed two goals, both off helpers from Kane. Kane extended his point streak to 12 games (18 points; five goals, 13 assists), the longest active streak in the NHL.
Saad scored at 12:07 of the first period up high on Antti Raanta’s short side from the left circle to give Chicago a 1-0 lead, then again at 4:36 of the second period (2-0), getting the puck through a similar spot on Raanta, this time from in front off a Kane feed from under the goal line.
Saad had a chance for the hat trick off a backhand at 14:29 of the third period, but a sprawled out Raanta kicked both skates up behind him out of desperation in a "scorpion" save with the puck hitting the outside of the blade on his left skate for an epic stop.
Saad has four goals in four games and credits a lot of his success to the winger who's been opposite him lately.
NHL
"Playing with Kaner's been a big help," Saad said. "We've had different centers, but I think we've found some chemistry there. He's a good puck mover. For me, it's just having that shot-first mentality, because he's gonna find you."
Dach grabbed a secondary assist off Saad's second goal and has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past three games.
"You talk about all three of them as far as how valuable they are to the team," Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton said. "Kirby gets keeping better. Very active, skating well... They created a lot going forward, pretty good defensively and just adds a different dimension to our team."
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