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Blackhawks still unsure on Montador situation

The Blackhawks have yet to decide what to do with defenseman Steve Montador.

Sending Montador to Rockford for a conditioning stint still is possible as he hasn’t played since last March 27 because of a series of concussions.

“We’ve got eight defensemen here, and everybody’s played pretty well,” coach Joel Quenneville said before Sunday’s game. “Right now he’s waiting his turn to get in the lineup, so that’s where he’s at.”

When Montador talked to reporters Friday in Denver for the first time since returning from the concussion he suffered in team workouts during the lockout, he spoke of suffering from depression from not knowing if he’d ever get to play hockey again.

“Sometimes when you’re dealing with that it’s not an easy thing, not playing for such a long time,” Quenneville said. “We weren’t around here together for a while either.

“Since he’s been back he’s been working on getting healthy and had a lot of conditioning skates here over that stretch. He’s been looking forward to getting back in the lineup, so we’ll see.”

Streak revisited:The Hawks were looking to start a new series of streaks after having Colorado end them all Friday with a 6-2 victory in Denver.#147;It was inevitable. It had to happen,#148; Joel Quenneville said. #147;Certainly it was something we should be proud of what we accomplished. Let#146;s get back to doing what we have to do and focus on one game.#147;I think that was the strength of our run there. It will be nice to see how we respond. Just getting back to that one game at a time, one period at a time mentality is what we#146;ll shoot for.#148;Jonathan Toews was proud of the streaks, one of which was 24 games without losing in regulation, but he was ready to focus on the second half of the season.#147;I#146;d say maybe the last handful of games the talk about it kind of got out of control,#148; Toews said. #147;If anything maybe it does take a little pressure off us and we can kind of sit back and look at the good things we#146;ve done, but also remind ourselves of the things we did that made us successful as a team.#147;It was something to be proud of and a pretty cool thing. So we#146;ll take the confidence that we gained from all that and keep going forward. Everyone knows you can#146;t win them all.#147;We#146;re proud of the first 25 games, but we know it#146;s just that, the first 25 games. We#146;ve still got a long way to go.#148;Emery decision:Joel Quenneville elected to start Ray Emery on Sunday against the Oilers, but he lasted all of nine minutes before leaving trailing 3-0.#147;Both goalies have been very good,#148; Quenneville said. #147;I think that#146;s a good argument for either guy to play. Ray played well against these guys the other day. The consistency of our goaltending is a big reason for where we#146;re at today.#147;I think both guys had good consideration to be playing tonight. I though Ray came in and did a nice job (at Colorado on Friday). I#146;m very comfortable no matter who is in the net.#148;

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