Back to 'normal,' Hawks want to get back to winning
It's back to reality for the Blackhawks.
No more Winter Classic hype or explaining why they can't beat Detroit.
Heck, they won't even see the Red Wings again until the last two games of the season in April.
After a day off Friday, the Hawks go back to work today at practice in Bensenville in preparation for a key game with the Calgary Flames on Sunday night at the United Center.
It kicks off a stretch of 10 games in 18 days that leads up to the all-star break, after which the Hawks depart on an eight-game road trip.
While Duncan Keith had a blast participating in the Winter Classic, the defenseman is happy to return to a normal routine.
"To be honest, this was fun, but it will be nice to focus on the rest of the season here and the next game and go from there," Keith said.
The Hawks had a nine-game winning streak before running into the Red Wings twice and the objective starting Sunday against the Flames will be to regain that momentum.
"We were playing the best team in the league so we need to try to learn from these two games we just played," Kris Versteeg said. "They don't give up, but we don't either. We've just got to keep going and working hard, and I think we'll be fine."
"Our focus has to be to have a good start in the next game and start rolling again from there," Brent Seabrook said. "It's a long season and you're going to have these little bumps along the way."
Even when they were winning nine straight, the Hawks weren't satisfied and spoke of how they needed to improve in certain areas. Their mind-set hasn't changed, and that determination to get better might be even stronger after the two spankings at the hands of the Red Wings.
"We're not going to give up," Patrick Sharp said. "We're going to continue to try to get better. There's lessons to be learned there. We're going to try not to make excuses, but we are a young team and we're trying to learn in these tough games how to win them, so we'll go from there."
The Hawks trail the Red Wings by 8 points in the Central Division, but in the bigger picture of the Western Conference standings, they remain in fourth place and have played fewer games (35) than any team in the conference.
"Our goal hasn't changed, and that's to make the playoffs," Martin Havlat said. "We still have half the season left and we are going to continue to improve."
The Red Wings, meanwhile, met the challenge the Hawks presented on every level. They have a difficult schedule ahead as well with seven of their next 10 games on the road.
"The guys really got up for playing the Blackhawks," Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "We know they're a good, young team and you have to be prepared when you play them. We knew we had to come out and play well."
The Red Wings actually looked at the Winter Classic as a way to recharge the batteries.
"In the National Hockey League, lots of times it's Groundhog Day," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "What I mean is it wears you out.
"That's a great thing because the mentally tough survive, but when you've been through what we've been through (winning the Stanley Cup), you're not as pumped every night as you would like to be, and you need something like this to get you excited."
• The NHL announces the starting lineups for the All-Star Game today, with the Blackhawks' Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Brian Campbell expected to be among the Western Conference starters.