Hawks wake up.Rout awful Oilers 5-0 to start Circus Road Trip

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EDMONTON—Jonathan Toews had a hat trick and the Blackhawks blanked the Edmonton Oilers 5-0 on Wednesday.Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell also scored for the Blackhawks (10-9-2), who won for the first time in three tries against Edmonton this season.Marty Turco earned the shutout, having to only stop 18 shots.The Oilers (4-10-3) have lost five games in a row and have only two wins in their last 15 outings, both against the Blackhawks. Edmonton has been outscored 30-8 in its last five games.The Hawks started the scoring with 5:30 to go in the first period. Brent Seabrook’s shot was stopped by former Hawk goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, but Toews was there to follow it up for a goal.He got his second on the power play with 46 seconds left in the opening period, as he banked a shot off the skate of Oiler defender Tom Gilbert to make it 2-0.The Hawks badly outshot Edmonton 20-4 in the first period.The Blackhawks kept coming to start the second as Patrick Kane picked up an errant pass from Jim Vandermeer and dished it to Toews, who wristed it home for the natural hat trick just over a minute in.While short-handed and with just over a minute left in the second Jake Dowell’s breakaway shot rang off the post only to see Kurtis Foster cough it up seconds later to Sharp who deked Khabulin for his 11th of the season.The Hawks finished the rout two minutes into the third as Bickell unleashed a cannon past Edmonton goalie Devan Dubnyk, who replace Khabibulin to start the third.The Hawks outshot Edmonton 47-18 in the contest.

NOTES—Both teams are back on the ice on Friday as the Oilers play host to Phoenix and the Hawks travel to Calgary. … It was the start of a six-game road trip for the Blackhawks as the circus does its annual stint in Chicago. … Edmonton won the two previous meetings between the two teams defeating the Hawks 7-4 and 2-1, both games in Chicago. … The Blackhawks won all four games against the Oilers last year. …There was a brief video tribute honoring former Oiler turned Blackhawk forward Fernado Pisani. The Edmonton native was the Oilers’ 2006 playoff hero with 14 goals in their run to the Stanley Cup finals and joined the Hawks as a free agent this summer. … With Ladislav Smid out after being jumped by Sean Avery in a game against the Rangers on Sunday, the Oilers called up defenseman Shawn Belle for the game. Forward Jean-Francois Jacques also played his first game for the Oilers this season. … Last year’s Norris trophy winner Duncan Keith came into the game with a minus-six rating.