Blackhawks Team Report

INSIDE SHOTS

The circus trip is over, and the Blackhawks should be satisfied. They got through it just fine despite getting only one point out of the last two games.

Now the Hawks have a nice December ahead, with 10 of 15 games on home ice. They need to take advantage of that because travel abounds in January and February before the NHL breaks for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

For the Hawks, the circus trip—an annual two-week challenge when a circus takes over the United Center—was an unqualified success. The Hawks took nine of a possible 12 points en route to finishing the six games with a 4-1-1 record.

For historical purposes, last year’s Hawks were 3-2-1 on the circus trip before making their surprise run to the Western Conference final. That was the first winning record the Hawks had on the circus trip since 1997.

Though the road wasn’t as brutal as it has been in the past, the Hawks are looking forward to the friendly confines of the United Center. Their first game back there is Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’ll be the first matchup of these Central Division rivals this season.

Kings 2, Blackhawks 1  (SO): Anze Kopitar(notes) and Jack Johnson(notes), the first two Los Angeles shooters in the shootout, converted. Jonathan Toews(notes) and Patrick Kane(notes), the Hawks’ first two shooters, didn’t.

NOTES, QUOTES

• The Blackhawks headed back to Chicago as soon as Saturday’s game was over, and they were looking forward to some home cooking. They’ve thrived on that while playing at the United Center. Even though the Hawks played eight road games in November, they’ve still had more games on home ice than on enemy ice for the season. The Hawks played eight games at the United Center in October, three on enemy ice and two on neutral ice in Finland. In November, there were only four home games so, for the first two months of the season, the Hawks played 25 games, with 13 considered home games and 12 road games. (The Hawks had a win and a shootout loss in Finland, with one considered a home game and the other a road game.) Now, come December, the schedule is overloaded with home dates again, and that’s a good thing. The Hawks’ home record is 10-2-1—second best in the Western Conference behind San Jose’s 7-1-2.

• Saturday’s game completed the sixth set of back-to-back games for the Hawks. They’re 2-3-1 in the first games but a stunning 4-0-2 in second games. The Hawks have 19 sets of back-to-backs this season, more than any other NHL team.

• Penalty killing was the Hawks’ strongest feature for a while, now maybe not so much. The Hawks killed 56 of 64 power plays by their opponents to start the season (87.5 percent). Since then, though, the opposition has scored on seven of 27 opportunities.

• Going into Saturday’s game, the Hawks had lost three of their previous four visits to the Staples Center and were outscored 19-6 in those games.

• The Kings were without Ryan Smyth(notes), one of their best players, for the fifth straight game. He’s been sidelined with an upper body injury and is expected to resume skating on Monday. Smyth’s linemates, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams(notes), have been ineffective without him, getting just two assists since Smyth has been sidelined.

• The Hawks are 77-71-19 in all-time matchups vs. the Kings and 36-37-10 when the games were played in California.

• In Friday’s loss at Anaheim, the Hawks were outshot 34-28. It was the third time in five games that the opponent had more shots on goal than the Hawks did. Before those five games, the Hawks had outshot 17 of their first 19 opponents. They did, however, outshoot the Kings 33-22.

Quote To Note:   “That’s how tough the West (Western Conference) is. You’ve got to be on top of it game to game. They (the other conference teams) know where we’re at, and we’ve got to be better.”—Hawks coach Joel Quenneville, reacting to losses at Anaheim and Los Angeles to conclude a six-game road trip.

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltenders:   Cristobal Huet(notes), Antti Niemi(notes).

Defensemen:   Duncan Keith(notes), Brent Seabrook(notes), Brian Campbell(notes), Cam Barker(notes), Niklas Hjalmarsson(notes), Brent Sopel(notes).

First Line:   Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa(notes).

Second Line:   Andrew Ladd(notes), John Madden(notes), Troy Brouwer(notes).

Third Line:   Dustin Byfuglien(notes). Patrick Sharp(notes), Kris Versteeg(notes).

Fourth Line:   Ben Eager(notes), Colin Fraser(notes), Tomas Kopecky(notes).

Player Notes:  

• C Jonathan Toews got the Hawks’ goal but wasn’t his usual self on faceoffs, winning 11 and losing 11 of his draws. The Hawks are 13-3-2 with their 21-year-old captain in the lineup but only 3-3-1 when he doesn’t play.

• RW Patrick Kane assisted on the Hawks’ goal, his 16th helper of the season. He has registered at least one point in 14 of his last 17 games and has 18 points over that stretch (six goals, 12 assists).

• D Duncan Keith had his 17th assist of the season, giving him the team lead over Patrick Kane by one. He also played over 28 minutes and had four shots on goal and two blocked shots.

Medical Watch:  

• RW Adam Burish(notes) suffered a right knee injury in a preseason game at Minnesota on Sept. 20. He suffered a torn ACL that required surgery. The Hawks expect his rehab to take six months, meaning he could rejoin the team in March.

• C Dave Bolland(notes) underwent back surgery on Nov. 10 to repair a herniated disc. His recovery period was listed as 12-16 weeks.