Hawks not rushing Havlat back

As much as the Blackhawks want Martin Havlat back in the lineup, they aren't going to rush his return.

Havlat practiced Thursday -- without contact -- for the first time since injuring his right shoulder in the Oct. 4 season opener at Minnesota, but there still is no official timetable for him playing again.

It's likely Havlat won't play for at least two more weeks.

"He's doing a lot better," coach Denis Savard said. "The reason why I kind of brought him out was I wanted to see what he looked like, and he looked pretty good.

"But again, I can't give you a time, somewhere around two weeks. It's not fair for me to make a time because we haven't done battles with him yet. He's getting stronger. His strength is getting there."

At some point next week Havlat should start practicing with contact.

"Probably middle of the next week, but it's still too early to say," Savard said. "I just wanted to see how he's skating, how he's handling the puck and how he's shooting. It's very difficult on your mind to practice by yourself. I kind of gave him a bone today because I felt he was working really hard and I wanted to see where he was at myself."

Havlat continues to take a wait-and-see approach to his return. "We'll just keep taking each day as it comes, but it's feeling better," he said.

Streak busters: Nobody needed to remind Denis Savard how extended losing streaks contributed greatly to a failed season a year ago.

That's what made Wednesday's 5-4 win at Dallas such a critical one so early in the season. It ended the Hawks' losing streak at three and put them at 6-6 after 12 games.

The Hawks had four losing streaks of five games or more last season, including momentum-killing slides of eight and 10 games.

It was following a 4-2 start that the Hawks went on to lose eight in a row. Then after battling back to the .500 mark at 17-17-5 in early January, they proceeded to drop 10 straight to all but eliminate themselves from playoff contention.

"I think the fact that we went through it last year, it made me a better coach," Savard said. "As a staff we discussed the things that we need to address to get out of those.

"I have a plan for it and hopefully we don't have to go through it again."

Savard worked the team hard in practices Sunday and Monday, canceling what would have been a day off Monday.

"This week we worked them pretty hard, but at the same time I told them why I was working them hard," Savard said. "You have to give a reason. You just can't say you've got to work harder to get out of it. There were things we needed to get better at, situations, and they did it."

More TV: The plan is for the Hawks to announce on Monday the complete home television schedule for the rest of the season.

The first home TV telecast will be the Sunday, Nov. 11, game against Detroit. The Hawks will show six or seven additional games after that.

Tip-ins: The power play is up to ninth in the NHL rankings. … Goalie Patrick Lalime didn't practice Thursday because his wife was having induced labor. … Denis Savard liked Adam Burish on the top line with Robert Lang and Jason Williams at Dallas, meaning it's likely Sergei Samsonov will sit for a third straight game Saturday at St. Louis.