Quenneville knows why Blackhawks' offense MIA

All right, everyone needs to take a deep breath here.

That's what the Blackhawks are doing.

This is not how the Hawks wanted to reach the all-star break, in a 1-2-1 mini-slide and in an offensive funk, but they still will be in fourth place in the Western Conference when their schedule resumes next week.

The stats tell part of the story, as in Patrick Kane without a goal in 11 games, Patrick Sharp with 1 goal in nine games and a power play that is just 4-for-55 in the last 10 games.

The other part is the Hawks just don't look like the same team that was filling the net with pucks in December. Their passing isn't as crisp, they're finding lanes clogged, they're not getting pucks behind the defense, there are fewer shots making it through from the points and less traffic in front.

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville knows why. He sees his team being outworked and outchecked at both ends of the ice.

"Teams win by checking and playing hard defensively," Quenneville said. "Everybody's going to play that way. Nobody's going to try to get into a track meet and exchange chances and think you can win that way in our league whether you've got a high-powered offense or not.

"The offense comes from how well you check and how well positionally you move together. When we all get back together again, I just think we have to get back to working hard. I think hard work will solve a lot of the things we're talking about."

Defenseman Brian Campbell, himself in an offensive rut with 1 assist in seven games, doesn't think it's fair to blame Kane, Jonathan Toews and Sharp for the Hawks' offensive woes.

"You just don't look at Kaner, Toews or anybody else; it's the whole room," Campbell said. "Those guys probably get the burden put on, but it's a lot more than them. It's the whole team that has to find a way."

Campbell doesn't disagree that the Hawks look out of sync offensively.

"We're not with everybody," Campbell said. "One guy is doing something and the other guy doing something else. It's five guys. When we're scoring you find those holes and skate into those holes hard and you're going after pucks.

"The way to get out of it is to work. I feel the guys in the room are capable of doing that. It's not all going to be easy. Every team goes through areas where they struggle and you hope it's just one or two guys and not the whole team that's going through it at the same time."

The Hawks don't play again until Wednesday when they kick off an eight-game road trip at Anaheim. That starts a stretch of 12 of 14 away from the United Center.

"Maybe it's a good thing to go out on the road," James Wisniewski said. "We can play a simpler game, finish checks and just play Blackhawks hockey."

"We all know we have a tough road a head of us in February," Campbell said. "Maybe it's a good thing to get away, go out for team dinners and stuff like that to get guys together. We need to come back with a strong effort."

• The Hawks had no information Thursday on what appeared to be a hand or finger injury suffered by Kris Versteeg in Wednesday's 2-0 loss to St. Louis.

Versteeg is supposed to play in Saturday's Young Stars Game at all-star weekend in Montreal.

• Defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson was returned to Rockford after playing 15 minutes against the Blues.

The Hawks expect Duncan Keith to be ready to return Wednesday at Anahaim.

"I watched him skate (Wednesday) and I think he's ready," Joel Quenneville said.