Sharp's appearance draws a crowd

Talk about a surprise birthday party.

Patrick Sharp celebrated his 26th birthday Thursday night with an appearance at an auto parts store in Glen Ellyn that was attended by about 800 people.

Such player appearances in the past barely got any attention, but the Hawks are quickly becoming the talk of the town and the NHL thanks to their emerging young stars such as Sharp.

"I was expecting to hang out with Jimmy DeMaria and some of the people from marketing and the guys at NAPA auto parts, but there was a line when I got there and it was definitely overwhelming," Sharp said.

Sharp overstayed his appearance time and signed until the last person left, even on his birthday.

"There's no better way to spend your birthday than with some fans that enjoy watching you play, and they obviously care about you," Sharp said. "They were great, and they brought me a lot of presents. I had fun and would have stayed there all night if I could have."

Earlier this month, a crowd estimated at 3,000 showed up at an autograph session for Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews at the downtown HawkQuarters store.

Star gazing: The Jan. 27 NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta is only a few weeks away, and Patrick Sharp could be the Hawk with the best chance of going as part of the Western Conference.

Sharp leads the Hawks with 19 goals, including a league-leading 7 short-handed, and has 32 points. Sharp's career highs are 20 goals and 35 points set last season.

"He deserves it," Hawks coach Denis Savard said. "We've had a lot of people lead us to where we're at, and he's right at the top of that list."

Home run over: Sunday's game against Los Angeles is the last of nine at the United Center this month. The Hawks were hoping to be better than 4-4 after the first eight.

"I wish we were (better), but we played well in the games we lost," Denis Savard said. "Sometimes you can't dwell on just wins. You'd like to have them, and that's what the expectations are here now, where the culture has really changed and guys are expecting to win every night.

"But as a coaching staff, all we ask is effort and structure. And we've done that the whole month except for maybe two games. One was Nashville (on Wednesday), and we won."

Tip-ins: Center Jake Dowell, who has been out since late November with a broken foot, will return Sunday against the Kings. … Defenseman Brent Sopel remains questionable with a broken left middle finger. … Center Martin St. Pierre and winger Mike Blunden were officially returned to Rockford after playing Wednesday against Nashville. Both played seven minutes and were minus-1.