Quenneville goes with gut in record shootout

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville was winging it, so to speak, during Saturday's club-record, nine-round shootout against Colorado.

"I think you have a list of three, then you see how certain guys might be playing," Quenneville said. "Sometimes you guess a little bit and get lucky. Sometimes you talk it over with the coaches and use your gut."

Quenneville started with Jonathan Toews (goal), Kris Versteeg (goal) and Patrick Kane (save). He then followed up with Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland, Dustin Byfuglien and Troy Brouwer, each of whom could have won the game but failed on their attempts.

Tomas Kopecky scored in the eighth round to keep the Hawks alive after Darcy Tucker had tallied for the Avs. Andrew Ladd won it in the ninth round after Hawks goalie Cristobal Huet stopped Matt Hendricks.

Quenneville said John Madden would have been his 10th shooter, leaving only forwards Colin Fraser and Jack Skille before getting to the defensemen.

"They were starting to get some consideration," Quenneville joked.

"I know I won't get tapped; I'm not too good at those," defenseman Brian Campbell said. "They don't seem to look down that end of the bench too much. I don't know if it's because we're hiding down there or what."

"I told him I was ready to go," defenseman Duncan Keith said. "They don't trust the d-men too much for some reason."

Figure it out: The Calgary Flames come to the United Center tonight off to a 4-1 start under new coach Brent Sutter despite some numbers that suggest they should be worse.

Jarome Iginla has 1 goal and is minus-2, while linemate Olli Jokinen is minus-3 with no goals. Defenseman Robyn Regehr is minus-6, while partner Dion Phaneuf is minus-4.

Yet the power play is 7-for-15, thanks partly to the addition of defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.

"This is a team that's still in the process of learning how to play without the puck and learning how to play with it, making smart decisions," Sutter told the Calgary Sun. "Things don't happen overnight.

"We've been able to find ways to win going through it and had spurts, so we've been able to win games because of those spurts.

"We don't want to be a team that has spurts. We want to be a team that's consistent shift in and shift out, period to period, where we know what we're about and what our identity is about."

Up and down: Winger Jack Skille was assigned to Rockford on Sunday, but there's a good chance he will be recalled today.

Skille played only five minutes against Colorado after being called up from the minors Friday. Joel Quenneville told reporters Sunday that Skille was sent down for salary-cap reasons.

Tip-ins: Cristobal Huet's .864 save percentage ranked 45th among all goaltenders through Saturday's games. - The Hawks' power play ranks ninth in the league (5-for-18) despite being 0-for-3 on 5-on-3s. - Calgary's Rene Bourque already has 3 goals and 4 assists, although he is minus-4.