Hawks appear to be back in their groove

CALGARY, Alberta - It certainly looks as if the Blackhawks have their game back to where it was before that pre-all-star break slide.

The Hawks have won three of four coming out of the break, all on the road.

"It's always a fragile balance," goalie Cristobal Huet said. "We're never satisfied. We want to move forward, keep climbing, get some points where we can and battle every night. I think the last two games we've battled very hard and got rewarded."

Captain Jonathan Toews thinks the Hawks have regained any confidence they might have lost before the break.

"It's time to take our game to another level here," Toews said. "We're going into the last stretch of the season here, so we've got to keep pushing. You've got to keep getting better.

"I think we got better as a team in December and sometimes things don't go your way and you have to battle adversity a little bit like we have in the last few weeks and you make a breakthrough. Hopefully that's what this is for us."

The Edmonton Oilers came away impressed with the Hawks after Tuesday's 3-1 loss at Rexall Place.

"We couldn't stop them," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "We couldn't handle the speed of the checking. It's one of the quicker teams I've seen this year, and we couldn't handle it."

Isn't that special? So far on their road trip the Hawks have scored 3 power-play goals in three games and killed 9 of 11 opposing power plays.

"Our penalty-kill has been good the last couple games," Cam Barker said. "The more we can stay out of the box and the better our special teams are gives us a chance to win every night."

The power play still could use Patrick Kane to find his touch again. Kane had an assist in the win at Edmonton but still has just 1 goal and 5 assists in his last 16 games.

Seeing red: After a 3-1 loss in Dallas on Tuesday, Calgary Flames general manager Darryl Sutter held a closed-door meeting with the team.

The Calgary Sun reported Sutter's main topic was the need to be a better road team. The Flames are 19-5-3 at the Saddledome but just 11-11-1 on the road.

"Everything he said was true," Flames center Craig Conroy told reporters. "Who cares what we're doing at home? We're pretty bad on the road."

The Flames probably will be out to send a message to the Hawks tonight after 3 straight losses to them. The Hawks have defeated the Flames 6-1 and 5-2 in Chicago and won 3-2 in overtime Dec. 19 at the Saddledome on Duncan Keith's goal.