Despite Kane slump, Hawks still scoring
It says something about how balanced the Blackhawks are offensively for them to keep gathering points despite a goal drought by Patrick Kane that now sits at 10 games.
Kane has not scored a goal in nearly a month, since Dec. 20 at Vancouver, but the 25-10-8 Hawks have maintained a stranglehold on fourth place in the Western Conference approaching the all-star break.
Kane only has 1 assist in those 10 games, the last six that have found him playing through the pain of a sprained right ankle he admitted still bothers him.
"I thought he played his best game over that stretch (Saturday)," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said after the 2-1 win at St. Louis. "He battled hard and that line was effective.
"He certainly gets a lot of attention out there, and I know he can produce. I thought it was a great trend (Saturday). He'll score."
Quenneville has no immediate plans to move Kane away from the line with Patrick Sharp to try to get him going, although Kane has seen the odd shift with old linemate Jonathan Toews.
"Our lines have been pretty consistent and effective all year," Quenneville said. "There's a lot of things you can try."
While the best thing might be for Kane to rest his ankle over the all-star break, so far the Hawks have said nothing about keeping him out of the skills competition Saturday in Montreal or Sunday's All-Star Game.
One thing that remains constant for the Hawks, even with Kane not scoring and defenseman Duncan Keith out indefinitely with a likely concussion, is the goaltending.
Nikolai Khabibulin and Cristobal Huet have been first-half MVPs by giving the Hawks a chance to win every night.
"Our strength of our season this year has been goaltending," Quenneville said. "That consistency has been there each and every game. There's no decisions. It's working. That's the toughest thing as a coach, if you have to worry about that."
Needless to say, Huet and Khabibulin are fresh having split the first 43 games almost equally.
"I'm sure that a goalie who has played 36 games is more tired than us," Huet said. "It's more mental if you are still fresh."
With two games to play before the all-star break - tonight against Minnesota and Wednesday against St. Louis, both at the United Center - the Hawks would love to get the power play back to where it was.
The power play was 1-for-3 in the win at St. Louis after coming into the game 4-for-its-last-35.
"I liked the look of it and hopefully we can continue because we need to rely on our power play for success and production," Quenneville said. "Hopefully we can get some consistency with it."
Troy Brouwer got the power-play goal against the Blues after being a healthy scratch for the previous three games. It snapped a 10-game goal drought for the rookie.
"They really want me to stand in front and make it tough on the goalies, and that's what I did," Brouwer said. "I have to do everything I can to stay in the lineup."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Tonight's faceoff</p> <p class="News">Blackhawks vs. Minnesota Wild at the United Center, 7 p.m.</p> <p class="News"><b>TV:</b> Versus</p> <p class="News"><b>Radio:</b> WGN 720-AM.</p> <p class="News"><b>At a glance:</b> The Hawks and Wild have split the first two games of their season series, both played in Minnesota. Cristobal Huet started each game for the Hawks, but it's Nikolai Khabibulin's turn to play tonight. The Hawks are 8-0-1 in their last nine games at the UC.</p> <p class="News"><b>Next: </b>St. Louis Blues at the United Center, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.</p>