Points, standings aside, Hawks stay wary of Wings

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Blackhawks might be 15 points ahead of the Red Wings in the standings, but that doesn't mean they aren't constantly keeping an eye on their Central Division rivals.

"You get that whole group assembled again (and) they're as good as anybody in the league, and maybe the team you've got to be most concerned with," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

The Red Wings went into the weekend ninth in the Western Conference, but only 7 points out of fourth place. They've battled through the portion of the season when eight regulars were out of the lineup with injuries and are getting healthy again.

Forwards Henrik Zetterberg, Valtteri Filppula and Dan Cleary are back from injuries, as is defenseman Jonathan Ericsson. All four players missed the back-to-back 3-0 losses to the Hawks before Christmas.

Defenseman Niklas Kronwall and wing Tomas Holmstrom remain sidelined, however, and won't play Sunday against the Hawks at Joe Louis Arena.

"When you start to look at their lineup now, they got Zetterberg back, Ericsson back, and who knows coming back; it sounds like a couple guys are close," Quenneville said. "It just adds to how they could be. We expect them to be a dangerous team the last half of the season here."

Winging it: When Blue Jackets star Rick Nash said in Chicago on Thursday that the Wings had changed their style and that the Hawks were the better puck-possession team now, it caught the attention of Detroit coach Mike Babcock.

"I agree with Rick Nash 100 percent," Babcock told the Detroit News. "They (the Hawks) are playing more like we did and we are playing more like other teams did - and it's called necessity.

"When we get our crew back, we will get back to playing (puck possession). In the meantime, we've got to win games.

"Right now, Chicago, in my opinion, is the most skilled, quickest team in the league, and that's why they have the puck so much. Ideally, as we grow and get our people back (from injuries), we will be right there with them and it should be fun."

Too loose for Q: Joel Quenneville hopes the rest of the road trip isn't as wide open as Saturday's opener against the Blue Jackets, when the Hawks rallied for a 6-5 victory after blowing a 3-1 lead.

"Let's make sure that playing on the road, you can't just expect to play such a free, wide-open game," Quenneville said.

Double nickels: With 3 assists Saturday, Patrick Kane improved his points total to 55.

The last Hawk to have at least 55 points after 48 games was Jeremy Roenick, who sat at 58 after 48 games in 1992-93 en route to a 107-point season.

Tip-ins: Speaking of Jeremy Roenick, the outspoken ex-Hawk is scheduled to be a surprise addition to NBC's broadcast crew for the network's debut game of the week telecast Sunday of the Hawks and Red Wings from Detroit.

Hawks broadcaster Eddie Olczyk again will be NBC's lead analyst this season.

Tip-ins: Defenseman Cam Barker returned to the lineup after missing five games with an upper body injury and was plus-1 in 11 minutes- With 2 goals, Rick Nash of the Blue Jackets snapped an 11-game drought.