Hawks needing wins of Central importance

DENVER - The Blackhawks have a wonderful record at 22-9-7, but you wouldn't know it by how they've played within the Central Division.

In nine division games the Hawks are 2-2-5, which is something they hope to change starting this weekend when the face the Nashville Predators in a home-and-home set.

"Obviously those are big games in the division," Patrick Kane said.

The Hawks are still kicking themselves for Thursday's 2-1 loss against the Avalanche, during which they had 44 shots but only Brian Campbell's power-play goal in the second period to show for it.

"I thought we made a lot of good plays," Kane said. "We've been scoring goals in bunches, and I guess this was the opposite. It's tough to lose a game like that, but hopefully we'll get our touch back and come back strong against Nashville."

It was Kane's first game back in the lineup after sitting out against Calgary and Phoenix with an ankle sprain. He assisted on Campbell's goal but only showed brief glimpses of his speed and ability to dangle with the puck.

"It felt pretty good out there," Kane said. "I think it's one of those things where you just have to play and not worry about the injury. Once I kind of overcame that, I felt a lot better out there. It's something I still need to treat and get better, but overall it was pretty good."

Only three times have the Hawks lost back-to-back games in regulation - the first two games of the season at New York and Washington, on the final two stops on the circus trip at Anaheim and Los Angeles, and last week to Detroit.

"The good teams don't lose two in a row, so that's something that we have to strive to be," Campbell said.

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville thought the Hawks waited too long to get the offense in gear against the Avs.

"In the third period we were doing everything right," Quenneville said. "We were doing what we were hoping to do."

The Hawks had 19 shots in the third period, but those weren't their best chances. Duncan Keith had a wide-open shot from between the circles in the waning minutes but shot the puck wide.

"We missed the net with our best chances," Quenneville said. "Those were quality chances there."

Avs goalie also Andrew Raycroft noted the misses.

"You need a little luck, too," Raycroft said. "They had some chances they missed the net and that was the difference."

• The Predators will have former Hawk Steve Sullivan in the lineup tonight for the first time since Feb. 22, 2007, when he hurt his back against Montreal. Sullivan needed two surgeries to correct the problem.

• As expected, Hawks rookie winger Kris Versteeg was named Friday by the NHL to play in the Young Stars Game at all-star weekend in Montreal.

Speaking of Versteeg, he was left off TSN.com writer Scott Cullen's midseason all-rookie team despite his commanding lead in the points race.

Cullen had Boston's Blake Wheeler, St. Louis' Patrik Berglund and Anaheim's Bobby Ryan as his three forwards.

• Because of the Tennessee-Baltimore NFL playoff game, tonight's game at Nashville has been moved back to 7:30 p.m.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=263402">Scouting the Blackhawks<span class="date"> [1/10/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>