Blackhawks hope to make a statement against Sharks

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Not everyone is convinced the Blackhawks are legitimate as a power in the NHL's Western Conference.

Some in the media are waiting for the Hawks to drop in the standings and many of their fans, in posts on various Internet message boards, are beginning to question the makeup of the roster.

A win over San Jose or Detroit would go a long way toward stamping the Hawks as legit, even showing the players themselves that they might be for real.

"It could say a lot about the team, yeah," admitted Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell.

The Hawks are winless in six games against the two premier teams in the West, but they'll get another crack at the Sharks tonight at HP Pavilion.

"We do have to beat these teams, these top teams like San Jose and Detroit," Hawks center Dave Bolland said. "We've got to take it to them to get up there and catch up to them.

"We're capable. We've got enough guys on this team, enough depth on this team to beat both those teams. We're a great team and we know if we can play like we can that we can beat them."

The Hawks are 0-2-2 against Detroit and 0-1-1 in two games with the Sharks. They have an overtime loss to San Jose and 2 losses in shootouts to the Red Wings.

In four of those six games, the Hawks have had leads in the third period.

"We've played them well and gotten some points out of games," Campbell said. "We've had leads in every game but two against those teams so it's something we need to be better in, these playoff-like games."

The Sharks are a beastly 36-6-5 and have scored 165 goals while allowing just 108. They are big, strong, physical and always a tough matchup for the Hawks, who haven't won at HP Pavilion since March of 2003.

The Hawks are 0-10-3 in their last 13 games against San Jose.

"They control the puck a lot like Detroit and don't like to give it up," said Campbell, who finished last season with the Sharks before becoming a free agent. "They have a lot of veterans on their team. They've been through a lot of games and know their roles.

"We look at it as a team we want to be like. Some nights we're still trying to figure out our roles maybe a little, but they have that established quite well for them."

The Sharks are a league-best 23-1-2 on home ice and perhaps start better than any team in the league in front of their loud crowd.

If the Hawks start as poorly as they did in Thursday's 5-2 loss at Los Angeles, they will risk being done after one period no matter how well goalie Nikolai Khabibulin might play.

"San Jose's a really good team in their home rink, and we have to take it to them right away," Bolland said. "We can wait until the second or third period to play."

The loss to the Kings was disturbing in that it was the second time the Hawks lost to the team with the third worst record in the West.

"We have to prepare a little better," Jonathan Toews said. "We have to regroup and redeem ourselves against San Jose. We know we can beat that team, so we have a lot to prove this weekend."

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