Toews believes he can do more on offense

The great ones are never satisfied, and Blackhawks rookie Jonathan Toews is from that mold.

Even after netting his 20th goal of the season Sunday in his 55th game, Toews spoke of how he believes he can become an ever bigger part of the Hawks' offense in the future.

"It's kind of nice to get No. 20, and hopefully I can use that confidence I have now," Toews said. "I've had a few more chances than I normally do, and I have to keep working to get those chances and it's going to go in for me. Hopefully I can keep playing that way and contribute and be a bigger part of our team offensively."

Toews and fellow rookie Patrick Kane have been two of the team's most consistent players in the playoff stretch run that likely ended with Sunday's 4-2 loss to the Calgary Flames -- the Hawks' fourth straight defeat at the United Center.

Kane has 10 points in the last nine games, apparently catching a second wind after a brief period of struggle.

"He's really played well here in the last month," said Hawks coach Denis Savard. "He's really battled harder. There was a month there where maybe it caught up to him because he's played a lot of minutes for us in a lot of situations.

"For him, too, it's new and he's really handled it well and played well. He makes a difference for us."

The race for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year figures to go down to the wire even if the Hawks' playoff quest won't. It's a four-man race as of now between Toews, Kane, Washington's Nicklas Backstrom and Phoenix's Peter Mueller.

On Friday, when the Hawks were in Columbus, Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock told reporters that if he had a vote it would go to Toews.

"He is the one player who's physically mature enough to dominate at a young age," Hitchcock said.

Three of those Calder Trophy hopefuls will be on the ice Wednesday night at the United Center when the Washington Capitals come to town.

Thanks to his role as center on the line with superstar goal scorer Alexander Ovechkin, Backstrom has been in a neck-and-neck battle for the rookie scoring lead with Kane.

Kane's 62 points lead all rookies, with Backstrom at 60 going into the Capitals' game today at Nashville.

The Hawks were off Monday to catch their breath after a grueling stretch of hockey that ended with Sunday's disappointing loss to the Flames.

"We didn't play our game," Toews said. "We didn't string three or four shifts together when all four lines are going. That's when we're at our best and we didn't do that in the first two periods."

With nine games to play, the Hawks might need to win them all to even get close to the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"We can't do anything about what's happened now," Kane said. "All we can do is go on to the next game and try to get 2 points."