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Chicago's Jonathan Toews never quite got his hat trick, but he has to be happy with how his team played as the Chicago Blackhawks easily defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Thursday night. On the road, where the Blackhawks have had periodic issues this season, they looked right at home, stretching out the lead to 6-1 before giving up a couple of relatively unimportant goals in the third period.
It was a nice performance by Chicago, which won for the first time in a week to move to 9-4-3 on the year. Toews scored two goals in the first period as they got out to a 2-1 lead, and the team finally had some success on the power play by scoring twice with the man advantage as part of a three-goal second period.
The Blackhawks weren't as aggressive in the third period after getting a quick goal within its first minute, allowing the Blue Jackets to get a couple of garbage time goals on Corey Crawford after the lead was essentially out of reach. Columbus moves to 2-12-1 on the year, easily the worst record in the NHL.
Stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago for more information, and for in-depth analysis on the Chicago Blackhawks be sure to visit Second City Hockey. For more on the Blue Jackets, you can check out Jackets Cannon. Visit SB Nation NHL for more news and notes around the league.