Dowell sits, but gets Quenneville's praise

Jake Dowell was out of the lineup again Wednesday night, even though Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville praised the rookie center.

Dowell was a healthy scratch against Dallas for the second straight game despite being a plus-10, which was best plus-minus mark on the team among the forwards.

Dowell also has 5 goals and 10 assists despite averaging just 12 minutes of ice time per game.

Quenneville cited a combination of things when asked why Dowell was out.

“He's been pretty consistent in his game,” Quenneville said. “He's victimized more by numbers and maybe trying things as well. He's been pretty steady in his contribution and his responsibility and he gets the job done. But sometimes you've got to stick with it (the lineup), and we didn't really want to change too many things for tonight's game. We expect him back in there soon.”

Defenseman Nick Boynton also was scratched for the second straight game, but winger Jack Skille was the third scratch, so it wasn't the exact same lineup as Monday's win at Los Angeles.

Ryan Johnson, who was minus-4 in his first six games, replaced Dowell. Johnson had won 64 percent of his faceoffs compared to Dowell's 48 percent.

“Obviously it's tough to change the lineup after a win,” Dowell said. “I guess I can just watch the game and guys who are kind of in roles that I'm normally in and see how they play and handle plays and learn from that.

“Obviously anybody is going to wonder what they should do or what they should have done better if you're sitting, but I'll just take it as a learning experience and stay out after practice and work on things I need to work on and try to get back in the lineup.”

Second-half key:

Joel Quenneville sees the need for more consistency for the Hawks to succeed in the second half of the season.

“We've had some stretches where we looked like we were on the right track and some games that kind of got us off the right path,” Quenneville said Wednesday before game No. 42. We want to make sure that consistency the second part of our season is in order - finding ways to be better at the rights times of games, the third periods, where we're getting point or should be getting points out of games.

“Certainly that consistency in our team game is an area we want to nail. We have a healthy group now in terms of putting lines together and some players in and out that make it a little more competitive as well.”

Tip-ins:

The Stanley Cup rematch against the Flyers on Jan. 23 at the United Center will start at 11:30 a.m., to accommodate NBC. ... The Hawks will host a Heritage Night on Sunday to honor the 1961 Stanley Cup team, marking the 50th anniversary of that championship.