Hawks will skate plenty on friendly UC ice

After a well-deserved four days off, the Blackhawks are in a great spot to continue the momentum they took into the Christmas break.

How’s this for a favorable schedule coming off the holiday? Four straight games at the United Center and 11 of the next 13.

The Hawks are 12-2-3 on home ice coming off Wednesday’s 5-1 win over Montreal.

“Let’s make sure we come back focused and try to keep the momentum that we went into the break on,” said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville.

The Hawks are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and have shown signs of becoming the kind of defensive team to match one of hockey’s best offenses.

The Hawks have allowed 2 or fewer goals in five of their last seven games, with part of the improvement coming from better penalty-killing.

“We realized finally that if we want to win games, tight ones especially, we’re going to have to kill a couple penalties here and there,” Jonathan Toews said.

“We’ve really got that confidence back and most of that comes from work ethic and paying attention to detail. Any time now that ranking should get better, so we’ll keep working at it.”

The Hawks lead the Central Division by 4 points over St. Louis and 5 over Detroit. They play the Red Wings for the first time this season Friday at the UC.

Toews believes there is definitely another level the Hawks can achieve.

“Everybody wants to ask that question and it’s only halfway through the year,” Toews said. “It’s nice to be sitting at the top there knowing we still have much better hockey to play.

“I think there are some teams that maybe get really hot and play their best hockey at the start of the year and find themselves in a great situation and they run out of steam. I don’t think we’re that team at all. There are so many little things we can keep getting better at that will make us more dangerous.”

Injury report:The Hawks went into the Christmas break without Marcus Kruger (concussion) and Daniel Carcillo (upper-body injury). Their status for today#146;s game against Columbus should be determined at the morning skate.Carcillo is on injured reserve but can be activated at any time. He has been out since Dec. 14.If Kruger and Carcillo can#146;t play, the Hawks have the option of recalling forwards Jeremy Morin and Brandon Pirri from Rockford.Morin and Pirri were in the lineup against Montreal on Wednesday but were returned to Rockford for the weekend to save salary-cap money.Line it up:Joel Quenneville threw together a third line of Dave Bolland, Bryan Bickell and Viktor Stalberg against the Canadiens, and the results were gold.Stalberg, who has played on every line this season, had a goal and an assist, giving him 2 goals and 4 assists in the last five games.#147;He#146;s been in all areas,#148; Joel Quenneville said about how many different places he has used Stalberg this season. #147;It#146;s nice to have that flexibility with his speed. That#146;s one ingredient when you start looking at altering lines he can give that look where maybe that#146;s the missing element with making the line go.#148;Crawford again?Corey Crawford is expected to make his second straight start today against the Blue Jackets. Crawford beat the Canadiens in his first appearance in more than two weeks while backup Ray Emery carried the load.#147;I think the greatest thing about our goaltenders is they#146;re team players and they can watch the other guy go in there and have success as long as he#146;s helping the team,#148; Jonathan Toews said.#147;It#146;s not about Corey being the No. 1 goaltender and not getting his chance. They#146;re both going to play a lot of hockey for us.#148;tsassone@dailyherald.comHKN22731740Viktor Stalberg, who has played on every line for the Hawks this season, earned the praise of coach Joel Quenneville for his contributions.Associated PressHKN