The Blackhawks routed the Buffalo Sabres, who are in a complete tailspin, 6-2 last night at the Madhouse on Madison. With a route like that, you would have thought that one Hawks' player would be a lock to be on the score sheet. I am talking about Kaner. Once again, Kaner did not score last night. Kane has just ten goals on the year, and has only found the back of the net three times in the last 29 games. He does however, have 29 assists on the season and is just struggling to score. Kane is going to have to start finding the back of the net soon.

Two players that continue to find the back of the net are rookies Andrew Shaw and Jimmy Hayes. These two have done nothing but impress everyone. And their performances last night against the Sabres were no different. Shaw was camped out, unmolested in front of Sabres' goalie Jhonas Enroth eventually knocking in the rebound of a Duncan Keith shot to tie the game early in the first period. For now it appears that the Hawks have a player in Shaw that is not afraid to battle in front of an opponents net. One could argue that's exactly why Captain Marvel was able to score his 25th goal of the season on a first period power play. Shaw once again went to the net and screened goalie Jhonas Enroth, as Captain Marvel tapped in the redirected Seabrook blast on the right side of the goal. Now to the other Rook, Jimmy Hayes... Hayes took a perfect pass from Bruny and buried the puck in the back of the net late in the second period. In the third period, Hayes dropped a sweet pass to set up Bolland's 14th goal of the season. When Sharpie comes back from a wrist injury, it will be interesting to see how the Hawks keep the lineup. My guess is Bickell will be traded and Smith will be sent back down. Stay tuned.

Odds and Ends

- Hayes' 2nd period goal was his fourth in ten games, while Shaw netted his fourth straight goal and his fifth in just eight games.

- The Sabres team that staggered into town Wednesday is in the midst of a nine-game road losing streak and leave with it now at ten games. Credit the ‘Hawks for taking care of business, but Buffalo is pathetic right now. Think they may be ready to make some deals? Derek Roy would look good in a Hawks jersey.

- Don’t look now, but the guy they call the Weapon, Dave Bolland has nine points in his last six games. The Weapon has 14 goals in 43 games this season. His career-high in goals is 19, set in 2008-09 when he played in 81 games.

- Next up for Chicago are the Panthers, who just lost Ed Jovanovski for a couple of months after he broke his hand in a fight.

Thanks for reading.

Scott