Savard hopeful on Havlat's return

Nothing has been made official by the Blackhawks, but coach Denis Savard believes he will have top scorer Martin Havlat back in the lineup in three or four weeks.

Havlat's injured right shoulder has been examined by five doctors, and the Hawks have reviewed all the opinions. Havlat had a meeting scheduled with general manager Dale Tallon late Monday to come to a decision on a course of treatment.

Savard said the team would leave the decision regarding surgery up to Havlat. All indications are that Havlat will try to play without what would be his third surgery on the same shoulder in three years.

"We'll probably have an answer here in a couple days," Savard said Monday. "It looks good right now, but we'll see. Hopefully in three or four weeks he'll be able to play the rest of the year, and I think he will. It's a gut feeling I have, and he wants to. But, again, we'll see. Three or four weeks is what I hope for."

Elsewhere on the injury front, Rene Bourque's groin pull will keep him off the ice for at least a week, Savard said. Bourque was hurt in Saturday's win over Dallas.

Yanic Perreault, who sat out the game with the Stars because of a charley horse, practiced Monday and is expected to play Wednesday against St. Louis at the United Center.

More fire required: Defenseman Jim Vandermeer has been a healthy scratch for the last two games, mostly for one reason.

"It's intensity," Denis Savard said. "He hasn't played badly. He hasn't been sitting because he's not any good, but the other guys have played better.

"It's not for a lack of trying. Maybe it's just a confidence thing."

Vandermeer has lost playing time behind rookie Magnus Johansson and newly-acquired Brent Sopel.

Powering up: Thanks to a good weekend in wins over Detroit and Dallas with 3 goals, the Hawks' power play moved up to 19th in Monday's NHL rankings.

The power play is 4-for-26 in five games.

"The power play has been great and won two games for us," Denis Savard said. "I wasn't concerned because they were executing the plays they were being asked to execute and just not scoring. You get worried when chances are not there, but chances are there."

Rookies Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews both had more than 6½ minutes of power-play time against Dallas. Only Robert Lang, Andrei Zyuzin and Jason Williams had more.