Blackhawks' Jonathan Toews not so serious as he goofs about Kane
Captain Serious?
Or Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock or Eddie Murphy?
It was tough to tell if it was Jonathan Toews or if one of those famous comedians invaded Toews' brain Thursday morning before the Blackhawks played Edmonton at the United Center.
Toews, answering a question about whether or not he believes the Hawks are headed in the right direction, at first answered “absolutely.”
But he followed that up by blaming Patrick Kane — whose 26-game point streak ended Tuesday in a 3-0 loss to Colorado — for that setback. Said Toews: “You know there's been a lot of games too where if Kaner doesn't score, we're in trouble. And he didn't score the other night, so I don't know what was up with him. So, we lost the game. You want to look at one guy, you just look down there (nods at Kane's locker stall).”
Toews and Andrew Shaw then got into a friendly verbal spat, with Shaw saying Toews was in a bad mood because “somebody (Shaw) beat him in faceoffs and (Toews) got a little upset.”
Said Toews: “Shawzie doesn't scare me, c'mon.”
Bicks better:
When Bryan Bickell returned from Rockford, the big forward said he planned to shoot more often. That's certainly been the case as Bickell and it paid off in a 4-0 win over Vancouver on Sunday when he registered an assist on Dennis Rasmussen's third-period goal.
“He's played better since he's returned,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “His game's been a lot more efficient, more predictable, simple, up and down, shootin' the puck, physicality, better in the puck area.”
Bickell has taken 11 shots on goal in seven games since being recalled from the IceHogs. He took just 5 shots in seven games before his demotion.
Trending up:
Unlike last season, when the Hawks went 15-3-1 over a 19-game stretch that ended in late December, they haven't gone on a torrid hot streak yet this season.
Still, Joel Quenneville's squad has been remarkably consistent since Nov. 6, when the Hawks were just 7-6-1. Since then, they've gone 11-5-3 in the last 19 games and are tied for third place in the Central Division.
Said Brent Seabrook: “I think we're in a good spot. We're right up there at the top of the division and our division's pretty tough. It's just one of those things (where) we've got to continue to play well, we've got to continue to play hard against the top teams. Divisional games, we've got to play huge — we've got to be ready to go and just keep getting better.”
Slapshots:
Ryan Garbutt, who has been a healthy scratch the last three games, returned to the lineup Thursday and skated on the fourth line with Marcus Kruger and Andrew Desjardins. Garbutt played in place of Brandon Mashinter. … Trevor Daley was on the ice for 18 minutes, 40 seconds – far above his 14:46 average in 29 games with the Blackhawks – in his first game with Pittsburgh since being traded Monday.