Against red-hot Wings, puck protection a key
This is an important day for the Blackhawks -- and it has nothing to do with tonight being the first home telecast of the season.
The Detroit Red Wings are in town to face the Hawks, and it's always a special occasion when the Central Division rivals from across the lake invade the United Center.
The Red Wings have won nine games in a row while the Hawks (9-7) will be looking to go three games over .500 for the first time this season.
"Detroit is the king in our division, we know that, and we have to be at our best to beat them," said Hawks coach Denis Savard.
That means the Hawks can't turn the puck over as much as they did in the final 30 minutes of Friday's 4-2 win over St. Louis. While the Blues have decent offensive talent, they aren't nearly as dangerous as the Red Wings, who usually make teams pay a steep price for mistakes.
"We have to learn that when we have a 1-goal lead or a 2-goal lead, we're going to continue to try to make plays, but we have to make better choices when we're ahead," Savard said.
"We just can't force things sometimes. When you turn pucks over in areas where you shouldn't, you'll be on your heels the rest of the game."
The Hawks know they can play with Detroit. They've already beaten the Red Wings twice this season, and Detroit has lost only three games all year.
Nikolai Khabibulin was in goal for both victories and he'll be back in net tonight after watching Patrick Lalime start the last two games.
"Nik's had some good practices and he'll be ready," Savard said.
Winging it: Gordie Howe never did it. And neither did Steve Yzerman.
That tells the story of how special it is in Detroit that Henrik Zetterberg has set a new club record with a 16-game points scoring streak.
"He's one of the best players in the league right now," Wings goalie Chris Osgood told the Detroit Free Press. "I mean, everybody knew he was good last year - it's just people don't talk about him very much. Right now, he's probably the best player."
The Hawks will need to shut down the dangerous line of Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom, which has accounted for 45 percent of Detroit's goals.
Looking better: Yanic Perreault won 8 of 11 faceoffs on Friday against St. Louis, including several key ones late with the Hawks clinging to a 3-2 lead.
"He's the king at it and it's something nice to have in the lineup," said Denis Savard.
Perreault scored an empty-net goal to seal the win. He played a solid 13 minutes on the first line with Robert Lang and Jason Williams, and had 5 shots on goal. Twice in the first period Perreault was robbed in tight by Blues goalie Manny Legace.
"Yanic has played well the last few games," Savard said.