"We won a game yesterday. If we win one today, that's two in a row. If we win one tomorrow, that's called a winning streak. It has happened before."

No matter how terrible the Blackhawks were during their nine-game road trip, at least we have the Columbus Blue Jackets to thank for being only slightly better than a drunk men’s league team.

Following up on their 4-2 slump-buster over the New York Rangers at MSG on Thursday, the ‘Hawks crushed the BJs 6-1 behind solid efforts from nearly everyone.

The victory marked the Blackhawks’ first back-to-back road wins since taking five straight from Nov. 25-Dec. 14.

After Sami Lepisto made every ‘Hawks fan replay Chris Campoli’s turnover in Game 7 against Vancouver in their minds 300-400 times, it was all Chicago.

Jonathan Toews made a hard move to the net and slid it past Steve Mason to tie it up, and Viktor Stalberg netted his eighth goal against the BJs this season just over four minutes later for what proved to be the game-winner.

Patrick Sharp took a great feed from Patrick Kane and one-timed it past Mason in the second before Kaner chased Mason through the five-hole less than two minutes later.

Marcus Kruger and Lepisto added the insurance in the third.

Hell of a game to write about in my first post in a long time. Moving and being without internet couldn’t have come during a better couple weeks so I didn’t have to talk about the lumps of shit that happened previously.

A few quick thoughts…

♦  Note to Lepisto: Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever make a fucking mistake. Ever. Next time, Q won’t just bench him, he’ll call Bowman from a cell on the bench and have him cut. Granted, Lepisto’s turnover was absolutely brutal, but he hasn’t been playing all that terribly lately. After the Jackets’ goal, Lepisto didn’t see another shift until he scored his goal, playing 5:59 for the game.

♦  Here are the Blackhawks’ numbers, with the “core” players highlighted:

A few things:

- The six combined for four goals and seven assists, with Brent Seabrook the only one not to register a point.

- Marian Hossa has a point in three straight games after going his previous six without one.

- It marked Kaner’s first two-point game since registering a goal and an assist versus Florida – the game before the road trip from hell.

- Patrick Sharp scored for the second straight game. It’s the first time that’s happened since Dec. 21 versus Montreal and Dec. 26 against Columbus.

- Toews, again, was a badass at the dot, going 8 for 12. It was his first three-point game since having two goals and an assist in a shootout loss to Phoenix on Dec. 5.

Everyone has been saying the superstars need to be the Blackhawks’ best players, and they’ve done that now the past two games. Hossa, Seabrook, Sharp, Kane and Toews combined for eight points against the Rangers. Boom.

♦   The Blackhawks (31-21-7) have played 59 games. If they had played the Blue Jackets in all of them, Stalberg would have 94 goals, scoring an average of eight every five games. Unfortunately, this isn’t fantasy world.

♦   Ah yes, the goaltending. Corey Crawford definitely wasn’t bad, but every time he gives up a rebound I cringe. Better teams may have taken advantage of that today, and Seabrook saved one that slipped past him, albeit that was a fluky play with bodies in front of the net. Still, the stat sheet shows 32 saves and one goal against, which wasn’t his fault after Lepisto’s boner.

♦   I’ll be in Section 326, Row 12, Seat 11 for tomorrow’s matinee against St. Louis, and I’ll likely be drinking early.

♦   What’s that? The Blackhawks can win three in a row? Holy shit stains! Sell high! Trade Kane! Trade Toews! Trade… oh I give up.

LET’S GO ‘HAWKS!