Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (No 19) scores a game winning goal against Anaheim in Chicago. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

By Chris Hine/Chicago Tribune

During their first eight games, the Blackhawks must have felt like they had switched conferences.
The Hawks played only Eastern Conference opponents for the first few weeks, knowing they would need to scrounge as many points as possible given the Central Division might be the toughest in the league.
The Hawks picked up 10 points in those eight games and found themselves in sixth place in the Central on Monday morning. By comparison, 10 points would have led the Pacific entering Monday.
“We look at the standings (Monday) and looking at the sixth spot, it doesn’t look so hot,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “But if you have a good week, you can put yourself near the top again. That’s why we think this year is going to be so challenging.”
The Hawks got another two points after beating the Ducks 1-0 at the United Center.
For the second straight game, captain Jonathan Toews scored the winning goal in the first minute of the 3-on-3 overtime. Toews scored 51 seconds into the extra session Monday after scoring 17 seconds into Saturday’s overtime to beat the Lightning.
Corey Crawford made 39 saves to register his second straight shutout.
The Ducks were the Hawks’ first Western Conference opponent this season. In May, the teams battled during a contentious and memorable conference finals that went seven games and had the Hawks facing elimination twice.
“They were a different beast than playing Tampa Bay (in the Stanley Cup Final) last year,” Hawks winger Andrew Shaw said.
Between the three trips the Hawks took back and forth to Anaheim during the series and the visceral style of play the Ducks employ, it was about as grueling and physically tolling as a series could get.
“Based on the playoffs, I have to believe there’s not a lot of love (between the teams),” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It wasn’t an overly vicious series, but it certainly was physical.”
The teams are in much different places from when they last met. The Hawks are trying to mesh after turning over a significant chunk of their roster and are trying to survive without injured defenseman Duncan Keith for the next several weeks.
The Ducks, who led the Western Conference in points a season ago, entered Monday in last place after scoring just six goals in their first seven games. With the Ducks beginning a three-game trip Monday, there was media speculation that Boudreau might not survive the Ducks’ own stretch of West opponents with his job intact.
Despite that, he said he tried to convey a positive attitude to his players.
“The sun’s still coming up, even if it is Chicago in October, early November,” Boudreau said. “You look for the positives in everything and you’re not sitting around being gloomy.”
Both teams continued their recent troubles putting the puck in the net, playing an uneven first two periods on sloppy ice that featured bouncing pucks and falling players.
For the Hawks, however, it represented a third consecutive solid effort on defense while trying to compensate for Keith’s absence and another night they got some needed points without Keith.