TORONTO -- It took an empty-net goal late in the third, but Patrick Kane scored the first regular-season hat trick of his career Friday and it helped the Chicago Blackhawks extend their season-best winning streak to 10 games.
The Blackhawks right winger scored the first two goals of the game in the second period and then had the clincher in a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
He had never had a hat trick in 622 regular-season games before Friday, although he had two in the playoffs.
"I think I've had a few two-goal games," said Kane, who has 28 goals on the season. "And it never really happened. Like I said, I wouldn't trade the two in the playoffs for anything in the regular season. But it's nice to get the first one in the regular season and kind of get it out of the way, so to speak. Tonight I was definitely the beneficiary of a lot of great plays by my linemates and our power play had some nice plays, too."
Kane also had an assist and the four-point night gives him 67 points for the season.
Left winger Artemi Panarin scored a goal and added two assists for the Blackhawks (30-13-4). Defenseman Brent Seabrook contributed two assists.
Defenseman Morgan Rielly scored for the Maple Leafs (16-19-7), who have lost four in a row.
"I thought we were competitive," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I didn't think our bottom six forwards were near good enough. I thought our top six were very good. I thought we had good chances. I liked the way we competed but the bottom line is the specialty teams killed us.
"We need to score goals. You've got to beat the other team to three in this league to win and we didn't do that tonight. Any way you look at it, you've got to get two or three and we didn't do that. We've got to find a way. We need more out of our bottom six."
Chicago goaltender Scott Darling, playing in his 11th game of the season and making his 10th start, stopped 28 shots.
Toronto goaltender James Reimer, starting for the second straight game, made 25 saves.
The Blackhawks were playing the second game of a back-to-back set after defeating the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Thursday.
The Maple Leafs were trying to rebound from a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
"Our guys are playing well," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think the consistency in our lineup is more noticeable here. We're getting contributions across all four lines. I think earlier on it was basically a one-line team and now we're seeing everyone contribute. Our defense has been balanced and our goaltending has been rock solid so I like the consistency right now."
The Blackhawks have five wins on the road during their winning streak. "We're not changing how we play," Quenneville said. "I think we're playing with consistency home and away."
The Blackhawks scored two power-play goals in six opportunities.
"We had lots of chances tonight," Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak said. "I thought five-on-five we played pretty good. It felt like our line, we felt good out there, we thought we had a ton of chances. Probably should have had a couple more but their goalie played well and they beat us in the special teams game."
Chicago right winger Andrew Shaw put in his own rebound at 12:07 of the first period but Toronto won its challenge that the play was offside and the goal was disallowed.
Kane converted a goalmouth pass from defenseman Duncan Keith at 13:07 of the second period, four seconds after a holding penalty against Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner had expired.
Kane's second goal of the game came on a power play at 17:13 of the second. He rifled a shot from the lower edge of the right faceoff circle after taking a pass from Panarin. Toronto defenseman Matt Hunwick was serving a high-sticking penalty.
Panarin scored his 16th goal of the season 21 seconds into the third period as the Blackhawks had a two-man advantage.
Toronto center Nazem Kadri took a high-sticking penalty at 19:59 of the second period and defenseman Roman Polak was penalized for crosschecking 12 seconds into the third period.
Rielly scored his fifth goal of the season at 3:47 of the third on a shot from the right faceoff circle.
Kane completed his hat trick at 17:48 of the third with Reimer removed for an extra attacker.
NOTES: Chicago coach Joel Quenneville moved past Al Arbour into second place on the all-time list of wins by NHL coaches with the 2-1 victory Thursday over the Montreal Canadiens. With Friday's win, he has 784 victories. Scotty Bowman is the all-time leader with 1,244 victories. ... Blackhawks C Marcus Kruger (fractured left wrist) and D Erik Gustafsson (lower body) did not play on Friday. ... Toronto LW James van Riemsdyk (fractured foot), C Nick Spaling (upper body) and D Stephane Robidas (upper body) remained out of the lineup. ... The Maple Leafs travel to Boston to play the Bruins Saturday. ... The Maple Leafs recalled LW Rich Clune from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL but he did not play Friday. ... The Blackhawks return to Chicago, where they will play the Canadiens on Sunday.
