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 Andrew Ladd and Patrick Sharp also scored for Chicago, 7-3-0 in its last 10 games. With the three points, Kane retook the NHL rookie scoring lead. He entered the game tied with idle Washington's Nicklas Backstrom with 52 points.
Ryan Kesler scored for Vancouver, which lost its third straight (0-2-1), but first in regulation in nine games. The Canucks entered the contest with points in each of their eight previous games, going 5-0-3 during the stretch to climb back into the Western Conference playoff race.
The Canucks took a season-low 10 shots on Chicago's Patrick Lalime, who made his fifth straight start. Nikolai Khabibulin, the Blackhawks number-one goalie, missed his fifth contest with back spasms.
Vancouver's Roberto Luongo blocked 22 shots in his 14th straight start before being replaced by Curtis Sanford at 9:49 of the third period. Sanford stopped two shots.
Chicago dominated the first period, outshooting Vancouver 9-2 and taking a 1-0 lead on Ladd's goal with 2:58 left.
From the edge of the crease, Ladd knocked in a rebound of Kane's shot. Kane set up the play when he stole the puck from Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell in the Vancouver zone, turned and drove to the net through traffic.
The goal was Ladd's second in three games with Chicago since being acquired from Carolina last Tuesday just before the NHL's trade deadline.
Kane's power-play goal at 4:19 of the second made it 2-0. His screened shot from the slot bounced past Luongo's right side.
Kesler cut it to 2-1 with 1:29 left in the period during a 4-on-4. After Chicago defensemen Cam Barker and James Wisniewski got tied up with Vancouver's Alex Burrows at the Chicago blue line, Kessler broke in alone and beat Lalime with a shot over the right shoulder. Sharp made it 3-1 at 5:27 of the third, scoring on a midair deflection of Duncan Keith's shot from the left point.
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Kane extended it to 4-1 with his second goal, at 9:24 of the period. He knocked in a rebound of Ben Eager's shot from midair at the right side of the crease. Sanford replaced Luongo at 9:49 of the third.
Notes: With Khabibulin out, Lalime was backed up by Corey Crawford. Including Khabibulin, six Chicago regulars sat out with injuries: LW Martin Havlat (shoulder, second game); C Robert Lang (back, third game; D Brent Sopel (wrist, fifth game; C Yanic Perreault (wrist, eighth game); and C Kevin Adams (knee surgery, 51st game). Adams has resumed skating. ... The Blackhawks will determine this week whether Havlat's injury is season ending. ... Chicago recalled forwards Bryan Bickell and Jacob Dowell from Rockford of the AHL in time for Sunday's game. ... Out for Vancouver were C Brendan Morrison (wrist, 34th game) and D Lukas Krajicek (shoulder, 14th game). Veteran Canucks C Trevor Linden was a healthy scratch.
[Associated Press]
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