So, too, is Bowman, who admitted he's surprised that Kubalik has been able to score on a current pace that would have him finish with 34 goals.

"If he would have scored 20 goals for the season it would have been a nice first year," Bowman said. "He was a high-scorer in Europe so we knew he had skill, we knew he could skate and shoot and had the ability to get to the net - those are the things that are obvious when you watch him play. What you don't know is how will he acclimate to a smaller rink? It's a different game here. In Europe it's more of a possession game.

"He's pretty much of a North-South kind of guy," Bowman continued. "He gets going and he gets up the ice and he puts pressure on the other team, throws the puck at the net. Those are somewhat simple things but some guys complicate the game too much. He manages the puck pretty well and he gets it going to the other end. Now, you can tell he's got his confidence and he's been able to a lot of opportunities he's converting at a higher rate right now. I don't know if it will stay that way but he's riding a hot streak right now and we want that to continue."

The Blackhawks will need that to continue if they are to remain in the hunt for a Western Conference postseason spot. With injuries having slowed the production of Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw and Dylan Strome, as well as a dip in scoring from Alex DeBrincat, the Blackhawks needed someone other than Patrick Kane to step up and provide some offense.

"Every year you need somebody to step forward that maybe you weren't expecting," Bowman said. "We were expecting Dominik to have an offensive impact on our team. I was hoping he could be a 20-goal scorer and that was probably a high expectation. Between 10 and 20 is pretty good for a first year in the league so for him to have 21 before his 50th game is impressive.

"He's finding those little holes to get himself some space and then he's got that quickness that he can accelerate and beat guys," Bowman added. "He's had breakaways and he's converted. He even had some early this year where he didn't score and he's hit some posts so he could certainly have 25 goals by now. So it's not a fluke watching what he's done."