Three candidates for Calder Cup skate here tonight
Tonight's game between the Blackhawks and Washington Capitals probably won't decide the Calder Trophy, which goes to the rookie of the year, but it might not hurt leading candidates Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Nicklas Backstrom to perform well in their first head-to-head-to-head meeting.
"All those three kids are good and who knows who will get rookie of the year at the end of the year," Hawks coach Denis Savard said. "Certainly they'll probably go 1-2-3."
Savard believes one of his "guys" should win "no question," but refused to say which one.
"Our little guy (Kane) has played well and Toews, with everything that has happened to him, has been a great leader and has a 20-goal season that probably would have been 30 if he could have stayed healthy."
Toews said he would vote for Kane if he had the opportunity.
"He's had a great year," Toews said. "There's so much he's had to go through, and he has dealt with the pressure well. One way or another we'd be happy for each other."
Kane knows what he would like to see happen.
"Hopefully we can share it," Kane said.
Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association vote for the Calder Trophy, and it's highly unlikely there would be a tie.
Pep talk: Hawks general manager Dale Tallon met with his players after practice Tuesday, with the message being not to give up with nine games to play and the playoffs now a longshot at best.
Tallon distributed handouts to the players detailing how attendance is up 45 percent and ticket revenue up 46 percent from last year, and how they are responsible for it, and to keep the momentum going to the end.
"We're just going to try and win every game; that's all we can do," Patrick Kane said.
Denis Savard promised his team would not go down without a fight.
"We have a duty here as a group," Savard said. "There are people that are going to come watch us this year, next year, the year after -- and we owe it to them. We owe it to ourselves in the room, but we owe it to our fans that come out and watch us play every day.
"The big picture here is we got better, a lot better, and we're going to continue to get better whether we make it or not. The big picture is important here. If we don't make it, the experience that we play through these games is important. They've got to learn how to play high, intense games and these ones coming up are going to be as intense as they see."
Tip-ins: Yanic Perreault returns to the lineup after missing 18 games with a broken wrist. … Kevyn Adams sits out. … Dustin Byfuglien will skate on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. … The Hawks will evaluate Nikolai Khabibulin's first start since Feb. 20 tonight before deciding if Corey Crawford should remain at Rockford.