Hawks not about to lose hope

With their team entering the week just 4 points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with six games remaining, Blackhawks Nation no doubt has been spending an inordinate amount of time scoreboard watching.

But that hasn't necessarily been the case among the players themselves.

"There isn't that much scoreboard watching," forward Adam Burish said.

But there has been some.

"Before the third period (Sunday) some guys were saying, 'Hey, if we win this thing, guys, we're only 4 points out,'" Burish said. "We haven't been watching the standings that much. It's more, let's worry about each shift, each game. Let's take it one at a time."

That the Hawks are even within smelling distance of a playoff spot after their obit had been written time and again raised some eyebrows among the nonbelievers, but none were inside the dressing room.

"We (believed) all along," rookie Jonathan Toews said. "We never stopped believing.

"People were saying we were close to being mathematically out of the playoffs, but you never know. There are teams that can slide. All we can do is control what we can control, and that's the way we play every night."

The Hawks were back to 6 points out after Colorado's 2-0 victory over Calgary on Monday night.

Hold Lang's time? Veteran forward Robert Lang (back) didn't practice Monday and is scheduled to skate on his own today before accompanying the team to Columbus.

"We'll see," Hawks coach Denis Savard said of Lang's chances of being in the lineup against the Blue Jackets. "I want to make sure he's 100 percent. I'm not going to play him at 85 or 90 percent."

Random shots: The starting time for the Hawks' regular-season finale April 6 at Detroit has been moved up to 11:30 a.m., Chicago time, to accommodate an NBC broadcast of the game. … Rookie wing Troy Brouwer has been quite the traveling man. First he was recalled from Rockford for Sunday's game, then Monday he played for the Ice Hogs on the road at Milwaukee. After that he will rejoin the Hawks in Columbus for their game Wednesday. Savard said he will start Nikolai Khabibulin against Columbus.

He said it: Denis Savard on rookie Patrick Kane tying Savard and Steve Larmer's rookie assist record with his 47th Sunday: "That's great. I love it. I hope he breaks all my records so maybe I'll coach for a long time."