Savard still looking for lines that click
The experiment of playing Martin Havlat with rookies Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane apparently is over after one game.
Havlat will be back skating with center Robert Lang tonight against the Los Angeles Kings at the United Center as Blackhawks coach Denis Savard continues his search for a balanced attack.
On the left side with Havlat and Lang will be Dustin Byfuglien, who in the last week has been the Hawks' best forward.
Patrick Sharp gets another crack at playing with Toews and Kane. The third line will consist of Dave Bolland between Tuomo Ruutu and Adam Burish.
"I've paired guys together pretty much the whole year, and I felt with Buff with Havlat, Buff has been the best player and hopefully he can help spark that line," Savard said. "We'll see, but I'm trying to find the right solutions, the right lines together to get over the hump."
The Hawks have lost four games in a row for the first time all season.
"I'm glad we're facing this already for our group so we know what it takes to win," Savard said. "We have to learn that part -- how to win.
"We've got to stay on top of it because we can't take our game lower. If we do, we're not going to get the results we want. Maybe we need a little more desperation. Five percent more desperate would be OK."
Another chance: After two games as healthy scratches together, Yanic Perreault and Sergei Samsonov are back in the lineup tonight playing on the fourth line with Martin Lapointe.
Perreault and Samsonov might be running out of opportunities to prove they should be regulars. Samsonov is without a goal this season in 20 games.
"They've got to get their games to another level," Denis Savard said. "They've been given an opportunity here, and again it's another opportunity and they have to embrace it and do the best they can with it.
"If you want to call it a fourth line, we've got to find a way to chip in a goal every once in awhile, and those guys have scored goals in their career. They have to play grittier, it's as simple as that."
Colin Fraser was returned to Rockford on Tuesday to make room for Perreault to play.
"We just thought that a veteran lineup would help us at this stage," Savard said. "We're going to go with a veteran line here for our fourth line that's got skill and speed."
Keep it quiet: Patrick Kane estimated that there will be about 500 people he knows at Saturday's game back in his hometown of Buffalo.
"I only have to get 15 or 20 tickets because some of my buddies already bought tickets, or they don't know I can get tickets," joked Kane.