If you had to guess which Blackhawks defenseman would have the most goals more than halfway through the season, you probably would have picked Brent Seabrook or Duncan Keith, whose offensive abilities make them important to the power play.

Odds are you would not have chosen Niklas Hjalmarsson, regarded as one of the best defensive defensemen in the league but not known for being a prolific scorer. But Hjalmarsson scored his career-high fifth goal Sunday in a 5-2 victory over the Predators on a shot from the point.

Hjalmarsson said he isn't sure why more pucks are going in for him this season.

"I just get more pucks through now, I guess, but it's a little luck too," he said. "I could've had a couple more goals at least in the past seasons too. Sometimes you get those lucky bounces, and it's been going in so far. Hopefully I can keep going."

Keith has only one goal and Seabrook two. They do have 28 and 19 assists, respectively. Keith's 28 assists ranked second among NHL defensemen entering Monday.

But it's Hjalmarsson who is lighting the lamp more often.

"It's fun to contribute," Hjalmarsson said. "I'm really happy when I score. It doesn't happen often, and now it actually has been happening. It feels good."

Nice shot: Artemi Panarin scoring on a one-timer inside the left circle has become a common sight, but Panarin scored Sunday on the same shot from farther out. He rocketed a feed from Patrick Kane from outside the circle and against the wall that beat Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne.

"That was a fortunate one," coach Joel Quenneville said. "You don't want to go too far out there. But I like him when he's inside the dot. He has a great release, and the quickness of it is sometimes the distraction of the pass coming to him makes the goalie frozen. It's a tremendous shot. He couldn't have put it in a better spot."

The goal was Panarin's NHL-best ninth of the season on a slap shot.