Hawks play it safe with Stalberg

The Blackhawks decided with Viktor Stalberg it was better to be safe than sorry Wednesday and kept the winger out one more game to make sure he is recovered from his concussion.

It gave Stalberg four additional days to heal before the Hawks return from the Christmas break Sunday against Columbus.

“I'm cleared to play, but we've been successful the last two games so we'll go with the same lineup and it'll be good for me, too,” Stalberg said. “We have a couple extra days in between here and make sure I'm 100 percent to go on the 26th.”

The Hawks are slowly getting healthy and could have a full lineup as soon as next Tuesday at St. Louis.

Patrick Kane skated on his own Wednesday morning, with coach Joel Quenneville saying the session went well.

Marian Hossa didn't skate and won't until Sunday morning. Kane also will stay off the ice from now until Sunday.

While it might be pushing it to expect Kane and Hossa to play Sunday, the game at St. Louis is a definite possibility.

“We have three full days away, so it adds up,” Quenneville said. “We'll know coming out of the break (Stalberg) will be full and ready to go, and Hoss is probably very close as well.

“Kaner skated (Wednesday), and he did well. We'll see how he presents out of the break with a chance of playing in one of those first couple of games.”

No threes:

When Joel Quenneville scoreboard-watches games featuring Western Conference teams he is rooting for one thing: No 3-point games.

“I kind of take the rooting interest out when I just root for no 3-point games,” Quenneville said. “That makes it a little easier.”

Down to the wire:

Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith still are among the top six in fan voting to be the six starters for the All-Star Game.

With voting winding down to its Jan. 3 conclusion, Toews trails only Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby among forwards with 277,418 votes. Crosby leads everyone with almost 465,000.

Keith is second among defensemen with 271,227 votes, trailing only Pittsburgh's Kris Letang.

Patrick Kane is fifth at forward with 209,232 votes.

Tip-ins:

Winger Jeremy Morin and defenseman Nick Leddy officially were named to Team USA roster Wednesday for the World Junior Championships that begin Sunday in Buffalo. … Corey Crawford's start was his 10th in the last 12 games. … Bryan Bickell went into Wednesday's game third in goals among rookies with 9 behind San Jose's Logan Couture (18) and Edmonton's Taylor Hall (10).