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CHICAGO -- When Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom left the ice with an injury before the game started, Chicago Blackhawks fans probably expected an easy win over backup goalie Josh Harding.

Maybe the Blackhawks did, too.

The last time the Hawks faced Harding on Jan. 30, he was pulled from the game after two goals in the first seven minutes. Harding, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the fall, hasn't started a game since then, and played only twice.

But this is the playoffs, after all, and in the NHL it's often hard to tell the seeds apart, let alone the dominant goaltenders (read: Corey Crawford) from the benchwarmers.

That's why everyone loves the Stanley Cup playoffs. The game begins with a goalie change and ends with Bryan Bickell celebrating an overtime goal.

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CHICAGO -- As "Chelsea Dagger" played its Da-Da-Da and the euphoria in the stands roared at Stanley Cup decibels, a TV camera panned to Daniel Carcillo on the bench looking up at himself on the scoreboard. His piano key smile briefly transformed the rugged forward from Hockey Menace to Dennis the Menace.

It wasn't over, but Carcillo and 21,531 of his closest friends knew he had just won the game, rebounding a shot right in front of the net with less than a minute to go. An unlikely hero to say the least. It was his first goal of the season.

With that goal, the Blackhawks extended their record points streak with a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

What was Carcillo, who was playing only his ninth game of the season thanks to injury, feeling at that exact moment?

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CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks' penalty kill is going so well Niklas Hjalmarsson felt comfortable enough to go for style points at a most critical time.

With the Hawks down a man after Andrew Shaw got called for charging with a little over five minutes left in the game, Hjalmarsson got the puck on the boards to the left of his goal and fired a clearing pass between his legs.

The puck went deep into Columbus territory and about a minute later, the Blackhawks killed another penalty.

Hey, whatever works. Hjalmarsson also blocked six shots with his body, but with that pass, he showed he's more than a target.

"It was a little too much, maybe," Hjalmarsson said after the 1-0 victory over the Blue Jackets on Sunday night. "But I got the puck out. Probably half of the guys in the crowd got pretty scared there."

That play was pretty indicative of how things are going for Chicago right now. A dash of style and a lot of substance are going a long way. With the victory, the Hawks extended their NHL record to 18 straight games with a point, or to put it another way, without a regulation loss, to start a season.

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CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks raised ticket prices before the NHL's four-month lockout. So did most of the league.

According to Team Marketing Report's annual NHL Fan Cost Index, the Blackhawks' average non-premium season ticket is estimated to be $62.88, a 12.9 percent increase from last year's reported price.

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CHICAGO -- The 300-level rowdies were howling in the third period when the Chicago Blackhawks' Jimmy Hayes was sent off the ice for a brutal boarding call on Michal Rozsival, who lay prone on the ice.

“That’s not a penalty!” one yelled.

This was halfway through the period and en route to a season-ending 4-0 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes. You wondered about the irony there, or maybe the hypocrisy, but really, you almost felt sorry for the bloodthirsty lot.

After all, they’re hockey fans, not irony fans. To the provincial, the Hayes’ hit wasn’t brutal, it was just a “hockey play.” Brutal was going 0-3 at home and missing all 39 shots in Game 6.

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CHICAGO -- Michael Jordan showed up at the United Center for Game 6 of the Chicago Blackhawks' playoff series against the Phoenix Coyotes on Monday night.

Jordan, who was wearing a black army cap and a Jonathan Toews jersey, was shown on the scoreboard in the first period in a suite with Blackhawks legends Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull. All three have statues outside of the arena.

Jordan loves a winner, which is probably why he skipped his team's game. In Washington D.C. the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA team that Jordan owns, lost to the equally lowly Washington Wizards, 101-73. The Bobcats dropped to 7-57.

CHICAGO -- Marian Hossa left the United Center in an ambulance.

That was after he was carted off the ice, his neck stabilized, his body supine.

That was after he lay on the ice for long, scary minutes as the United Center piped in “Blue Moon,” to chill out the crowd (it didn’t work) and cut replays from the scoreboard.

That was after Hossa’s head bounced off the ice.

That was after Phoenix Coyotes aggressor Raffi Torres left his feet and rammed his left shoulder into Hossa’s right jaw.

That was after Torres, skating from behind, sized up Hossa like he was Brandon Meriweather on skates.

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The Chicago Blackhawks’ lackluster special teams continued to underwhelm in the first period Wednesday night, as Chicago went 0-1 on the power play and gave up a momentum-turning goal Toronto on the penalty kill.

Slumping Toronto, fresh off a 5-3 loss to Florida on Tuesday at home, controlled the puck and skated off to a 3-2 lead after a wild first period.

Marcus Kruger and Andrew Shaw scored for the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks’ big trade deadline addition defenseman Johnny Oduya was less than impressive, he was on the ice for all three Maple Leafs goals, along with his partner Brent Seabrook. He also had a stick explode on Toronto's side, but that might've been a highlight for him.

Shaw, just back up from Rockford, tied the game at 1-1, but Patrick Sharp got two minutes for hooking on the goal. Twenty seconds later, Joffrey Lupul tapped in a shot from Phil Kessel.

Tyler Bozak scored 59 seconds in, sneaking a puck under Corey Crawford, to give slumping Toronto a quick lead and Clarke MacArthur’s goal made it 3-1.

Chicago had 11 shots and Toronto had 10.

CHICAGO -- Patrick Kane's on-ice interviews occasionally veer off-script.

After Tuesday's 4-3 comeback win over the Winnipeg Jets, Kane broke free from the stock Q&A with the local TV host to ask the remaining fans a question of his own:

"It was Danny's first game," Kane said, his voice raised with joy. "You guys like him out there tonight?"

They did. Kane knows how to get a rise out of the 20,000-plus puckheads who fill the arena for every game.

"Danny" is Daniel Carcillo, a.k.a. Car Bomb, a.k.a. the Missing Link.

Carcillo is the heir apparent to Blackhawks alums like Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Troy Brouwer and Adam Burish -- bruisers that took the heat off the stars, and torched opponents during the 2010 Stanley Cup run.

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The bad news: The Chicago Blackhawks' season is over.

The good news: Rogers Arena didn't become Wrigley Field.

We know how that would feel.

As disappointing as the 2-1 overtime loss to end the Blackhawks' season was, if you were watching the Canucks and their fans celebrate, knowing how tortured they've been over their history, you couldn't help but feel a tinge of relief for them.

Could you imagine losing this one? The city might have burned. I know losing the Grizzlies was tough and all ...

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CHICAGO -- For one night at least, the old magic was back at the United Center.

"Dah dah dah dah ..." you get the picture.

Whether it's a Halley's Comet-like event, like fans taking pictures of a famous media member in the United Center press box, will be up to the Chicago Blackhawks and the collective will of the Vancouver Canucks.

But for one night, with elimination and tee times on the horizon, or in Jonathan Toews' case, hardcore weightlifting in the basement to the strains of Ratt, the Blackhawks of yesteryear showed up.

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CHICAGO -- The snow is still Garrett Wolfe-high on my block and every pixilated image of Jay Cutler in shorts and a cardigan, sour-pussing his way through life, just makes me angry. Mostly because he gets to wear flip-flops outdoors and we're stuck here with wet socks, lamenting the Packers' win in the Super Bowl.

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CHICAGO -- Patrick Kane is only 21 years old and for the rest of his life he will be known for two things:

Scoring a goal to win the Stanley Cup and for the next three months, partying like he scored a goal to win the Stanley Cup.

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