April Fool? Chicago Blackhawks Dominate St. Louis Blues

Maybe it was just a matter of turning the calendar to a new page.

On Wednesday night, the St. Louis Blues visited the United Center as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks have experienced well-documented struggles since the first of the year.

But if you watched the game this evening, you never would have guessed which team was streaking, and which one had returned from Montreal bruised both physically, and on the stat sheet after midnight this morning.

Chicago goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin should have had a shut out, except for a penalty called with five seconds left in a 3-0 game...seriously?

In a game that saw the Hawks return to the form that had them beating everyone in December. Khabibulin made some nice saves in the game, but only faced 16 shots.

Meanwhile, the Hawks received contributions from a couple unusual players.

While the first goal was tallied by captain Jonathan Toews, it was the first goal as a Hawk for Samuel Pahlsson, and the first by Colin Fraser since Valentine's Day that highlighted the best team effort from the Hawks in weeks.

Chicago had struggled to play physical hockey against bigger, veteran teams of late.

This evening, the Hawks controlled the tempo and the play on the boards the entire night against a team that had muscled them around the ice earlier this season.

The Blackhawks, with the two points this evening, pull into a tie with Vancouver in the Western Conference at 93 points; though the Hawks are the fourth seed because the Canucks are winning their division.

Chicago is now two points from being assured the sixth seed, as a worst-case scenario, with six games to play.