from Andrew Berkshire of Sportsnet,

Outstanding offensive performance is mostly what’s behind this streak because the Blackhawks remain one of the worst defensive teams in the league. They allow the fourth-most high danger chances against and the fifth-most scoring chances on net against in the league, not to mention that only two teams allow a higher proportion of their shot attempts against from the slot at 43 per cent.

To win despite that you’ve got to manufacture a lot of offence, and Patrick Kane is getting the most credit for that right now, which makes sense because he’s the Hawks’ best scorer. But did you know that since Jan. 1, Alex DeBrincat has scored 20 goals in 29 games? Only Leon Draisaitl has more over that time.

DeBrincat had a great rookie season last year and this year he’s not just feeding off the great years being put together by Kane and Jonathan Toews. In fact, DeBrincat’s currently forming one of the most explosive third lines in the league with Dylan Strome. Having Kane on one line, Toews on another, the duo of DeBrincat and Strome on a third and watching each of them score at a point-per-game pace or better gives the Hawks the ability to be terrible on defence and still win....

When Strome and DeBrincat are on the ice right now, the puck is zipping around the offensive zone more efficiently than not just most third lines, but a fair amount of first lines around the league, too.

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