Physical start gets Hawks off on right foot

The Blackhawks are at their best on home ice when they set a physical tone early.

Tuomo Ruutu, Dustin Byfuglien and a few others made sure that happened Wednesday night at the United Center and the result was a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings that snapped their four-game losing streak.

Ruutu scored the first of 3 Hawks goals in the opening 15 minutes and delivered a huge check on Kings defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky that fired up his teammates and the crowd of 12,534.

"Plays like that give us energy," Jonathan Toews said of Ruutu's hit. "That whole line was great right off the hop."

Unfortunately for the Hawks, the line of Ruutu, Adam Burish and Dave Bolland wasn't around very long. Burish was hit with a game misconduct at 15:09 of the first period for his part in a brawl that was ignited by Ruutu's hit.

"When you see Adam Burish step in there and defend Ruuts, just little things like that show we're sticking together and doing what we have to do to win," Toews said.

"I'm telling you, these guys -- Burish, Ruutu, Byfuglien, (Brent) Seabrook -- they made a difference tonight," Savard said. "I know you look at goals and points, and I agree, but those guys made a big difference."

Martin Havlat added 2 goals while Duncan Keith, Toews and Patrick Sharp chipped in 1 apiece. Sharp also had 2 assists as did Patrick Kane, who didn't score a goal for the 13th straight game.

While Savard was pleased to end the losing streak, he didn't like the way the Hawks played after going ahead 3-0 in the first period. The Kings actually pulled to within 4-3 in the third.

"Even though that was a great win, there's ways to win and we're still learning about little things, little details," Savard said. "It's important for us because if we want to become a playoff team we've got to learn this now."

The Hawks outshot the Kings 36-28, but Nikolai Khabibulin had to make some big stops after it got close.

Khabibulin was jostled in the crease on 2 of the Kings' goals, but referees Stephane Auger and Kevin Pollock saw no foul play.

"I'm not going to say anything because they're not going to do anything," said Khabibulin, who has been bumped a lot in the last few games. "If I was a forward, I would do that too."

Savard didn't care for the officiating either, especially on what the Hawks felt was a clean shoulder hit by Ruutu on Visnovsky. Ruutu received a penalty for charging.

"I'm not going to talk about the officials," Savard said. "I don't make that much."

The Hawks hadn't won since Nov. 30 against Phoenix, but there was never any panic in the dressing room.

"I think you just keep calm and don't panic," said center Robert Lang. "Teams that had seven-game skids in the beginning, they are now in the playoffs. It's a long season and you can move up and down."