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The Blackhawks scored three times in a three-minute span in the opening period to whip league-leading Detroit 6-2 and keep their playoff hopes alive before another sellout crowd at the United Center Wednesday.

Six different Chicago players scored as they won their third straight and became the first team to beat the Red Wings five times in a season since the 1990-91 campaign.

The 1st period barrage began at 5:53 when Cam Barker blasted a 35-footer into the upper corner of the net on a power play for his 6th of the season.

The Hawks made it 2-0 43 seconds later when Dave Bolland won the faceoff in the Wings zone and rookie defenseman Jordan Hendry notched his first NHL goal on a long shot through goalie Dominik Hasek's pads.

At 7:52, two former Wings teamed up on a 2-on-1 with Jason Williams sending a cross-ice pass to Robert Lang, who rifled a 20-footer in on the short side for his 21st goal. The score sent Hasek to the bench in favor of Chris Osgood.

Hawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin made a key save four minutes later on a breakaway by Dan Cleary to preserve the three-goal edge, but the Wings scored on a power play at 14:20 when Henrik Zetterberg notched his 41st goal on a 35-foot screen shot into the lower left corner.

In the 2nd period, the Hawks made it 4-1 on a power play at 3:13. #1 star of the game Patrick Kane made a cross-ice pass to Dustin Byfuglien, who wristed a 15-footer past Osgood for his 19th goal.

Detroit cut the margin to 4-2 at 6:20 when Kirk Maltby picked off a Hawk pass and then got his own rebound to put the puck past Khabibulin.

Kane regained the NHL rookie point scoring lead at 7:39 when he deflected a shot from Duncan Keith for his 19th of the campaign for a 5-2 Hawk margin.

In the final period, Detroit had a two-man advantage for a short period, but failed to capitalize. When the second penalty ended with Adam Burish coming out of the penalty box, Kane fed him a breakaway pass. Burish seized the opportunity to beat Osgood with a 25-footer on the near side for his 3rd goal.

Hawks coach Denis Savard credited his squad with good puck control, faceoff wins and strong physical play against the league leaders.

The victory clinched the season series against the Wings with a 5-2 edge as the two teams will clash again Sunday in the regular season finale in Detroit.

The 19 year-old Kane added to his team rookie record for assists by picking up two (50) and leads Washington's Nicklas Backstrom by two points among rookies.

Each team had 28 shots on goal with the Hawks 2-of-8 on the power play while the Wings were 1-of-6.

The Hawks are three points behind 8th place Nashville, but will need some help from St. Louis Thursday when the Blues face the Predators.

Detroit's Niklas Lidstrom led all skaters with 25+ minutes of ice time followed closely by Chicago's Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook with 24+.

The Hawks dished out 24 hits to 10 for the Wings led by Burish with 5.

The Hawks wind up their home schedule against Nashville Friday (7:30 pm) at the United Center before heading to Detroit Sunday afternoon.

AP Notes: The crowd of 21,365 was the Blackhawks' 11th home sellout of the season. ... Chicago LW Ben Eager missed his 12th game due to a shoulder injury. ... Detroit C Kris Draper sat out because of a groin injury. Red Wings RW Mikael Samuelsson missed his third, also due to a sore groin. LW Tomas Holmstrom missed his 12th because of an abdominal injury. ... Baseball Hall Of Fame shortstop Ernie Banks, who starred for the Chicago Cubs, dropped the ceremonial first puck.

Red Wings Quotes

Head coach Mike Babcock: "I thought they were ready to go. I thought we lacked discipline, which I can't say about our team very often. We lost our composure. I'm not just talking with the penalties. You have to give them credit. They won every battle. From start to finish, they won the battle. Their best players were better than our best players and they worked harder and they worked longer. They looked desperate and we looked uninterested.

"We lost our composure. It put us behind the eight ball. Every team in the league is capable of scoring off the power play if you put them on it. I thought their battle level was excellent. I thought that [Jonathan] Toews played a very, very good game."

Defenseman Nik Lidstrom: "They got three quick goals on us and we couldn't really recover after that. After we settled down in the second half of that first period I thought we played better. But we put ourselves down 3-0, it's tough to come back from. I think that was the downfall tonight. You can tell that they're desperate. I thought they got the breaks early on. They got their 5-on-3 right away and they capitalized on it and kept building momentum after that."