Blackhawks hope hitting road activates restart button

Normally, when a team is struggling like the Blackhawks have of late, players and coaches look forward to a long homestand and sleeping in their own beds.

But, sometimes getting away can be good too, and the reeling Hawks are certainly hoping an upcoming four-game trip to Calgary, Vancouver, Minnesota and Winnipeg allows them to hit the restart button before the playoffs arrive in mid-April.

"During the season we see each other at the rink and that's about it," Scott Darling said Wednesday. "We need to come together as a team going into the playoffs these last couple games. Hopefully we can turn it around this road trip."

Coach Joel Quenneville brought at least some of his players in Wednesday (he wouldn't say how many) to go over parts of the Hawks' 6-2 loss to Dallas the day before. Niklas Hjalmarsson told the media he hasn't been happy with the team's "compete level" of late.

"There's no excuse for that really," Hjalmarsson said. "It doesn't really matter if you're tired mentally or tired physically. You can still compete hard every night. That goes to myself and my teammates. It's something we have to do much better …

"It's a little embarrassing the way we've played here, especially at home."

A perfect example of that came midway through the first period Tuesday when Artem Anisimov had a chance to blast Vernon Fiddler into the boards. Anisimov instead let up and allowed Fiddler to escape and get the puck to Colton Sceviour, who nearly scored on a shot right in front of Darling.

"We're not strong enough in the puck area, or assertive enough," Quenneville said. "That's the area where we're (not) contesting pucks as frequently or not as effectively."

The Hawks, who have lost four in a row at the United Center, certainly need to earn at least 6 or 7 points on this upcoming trip against three teams who are out of the playoffs and another (Minnesota) which is right on the edge of qualifying.

Despite not beating a playoff team since Feb. 28 (at home against Washington), going 0-for-20 in the last six games on the power play and going 1-4-2 while being outscored 25-14 the last seven games, Darling believes everything will be OK in the end.

"I mean we're definitely frustrated," he said. "Guys are trying to do the right things. Things aren't clicking right now, but we have a high morale in here and we're going to be fine."

Ross suspended indefinitely:

The Blackhawks suspended Rockford IceHogs forward Garret Ross indefinitely on Wednesday. Ross faces felony charges, stemming from a case in which "non-consensual private sexual images were disseminated." This is more commonly known as "revenge porn." Ross will be suspended until the case is resolved.

Crawford update:

Joel Quenneville said Corey Crawford, who has missed four games with an upper-body injury, has yet to resume skating. Quenneville doesn't know if Crawford will go on the team's upcoming road trip.

He said it:

"For me personally it's nice to play, it's nice to get a couple of games, some repetition and to get into a little bit of a groove. (But) God forbid they need me down the road."

- Scott Darling