Williams' stay on IR could be lengthy one

Blackhawks coach Denis Savard raised eyebrows on Thursday when he suggested winger Jason Williams could miss the next three months due to a nagging groin injury.

"It could be two weeks, it could be 12 weeks until that pain goes away," Savard said.

"The reason I say this is there have been guys around the league (who) have this injury before and they've tried different things -- treatments and stretches -- and really, sometimes rest is the only thing that's going to cure that. It's not going to be 12 weeks, I would doubt it, but if you look at the long picture it could be 12 weeks. I think he'll be back before that."

All Williams can do is take it day by day and hope for the best.

"It's coming along slowly," said Williams, who has tried to play through the problem, which first flared in training camp. "I'm still a little ways from coming back. With this type of injury you could wake up one morning and feel real good, then wake up the next and be real sore."

Williams, who was officially placed on injury reserve Thursday, is one of the Hawks' key players and has been missed, particularly as a point man on the suddenly struggling power play.

"Our power play is hanging in there, but that's his strength for sure," Savard said. "When you have a key player like Williams missing, that makes a difference."

Slow starters: It's called the Stanley Cup hangover, and it happens frequently in the NHL.

It's happening to the Anaheim Ducks, who bring a 13-12-4 record to the United Center tonight to play the Hawks after winning the Cup last spring.

"But I watched them (Wednesday in a 4-1 win over Buffalo), and they probably played their best game of the year," said Denis Savard. "We're gong to have a nice job on our hands, and hopefully we'll respond."

The Hawks need to start better than they did in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to Vancouver, which snapped a five-game winning streak on home ice.

"For us as a group we have to initiate, and we didn't," Savard said. "In the home games prior to that we initiated. If we do that, we'll be fine."

Good idea: After playing almost 25 minutes against Vancouver and being the Hawks' best player on the ice by a mile, Martin Havlat was allowed to skip practice Thursday.

"Just giving him a rest," said Denis Savard. "He hasn't played a lot this year, and we want to make sure we keep him fresh."

Havlat scored a goal and had a team-high 5 of the Hawks' 27 shots.