Blackhawks winning despite a dip in offense

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville couldn't help chuckling when he was asked Friday if the return of Marian Hossa would disrupt team chemistry.

"Absolutely not," Quenneville said. "We welcome that addition in a lot of ways."

Hossa's return from shoulder surgery is still three or four weeks down the road, but the Hawks could use him now with an offensive that is showing signs of struggling.

The Hawks' average is down more than a goal per game in the last seven compared to the first six while they are averaging 9 fewer shots.

The Hawks scored 23 goals in their first six games and have just 16 in the last seven. They haven't scored more than 3 goals in a game since Oct. 14 in a 4-3 win over Edmonton.

There are three factors in the recent decline in goals:

• The power play is just 2-for-26 over the last six games.

• The Hawks are missing that game-breaking presence Martin Havlat supplied last season, which is what Hossa will bring to the table.

• Opponents are bringing their top checking game to the rink when they play the explosive Hawks.

Coach Joel Quenneville sees the struggling power play as the chief reason for fewer goals in the last couple of weeks.

"I think the power play could give you the No. 1 reason there, because we get a lot of juice off that as well in our 5-on-5 play," Quenneville said. "It overall enhances our offense."

The Hawks are having trouble getting set up on the power play and establishing point shots, which is a huge part of their offense.

"That's what happens on a power play when it gets a little bit off," Quenneville said. "When it does have some trouble, just establishing a point shot and going off of that and simplifying as much as you can.

"To me, the perfect plays are hard to make in this league and it usually leads to trouble for power plays and establishing momentum off it."

Defenseman Duncan Keith believes there's no question opponents are playing the Hawks tighter than last year out of respect for their skill level.

"The games just in general have been more defense oriented," Keith said. "Teams have seen that we have offense and they're coming in with an attitude of not getting in a wide-open game with us. I think that's it more than anything. We'd like to open it up a little bit, but the other teams are doing a good job playing defense."

Not only are the Hawks missing Hossa and his game-breaking potential, Jonathan Toews, their leading goal scorer a year ago with 34, has missed the last four games with a concussion.

The Hawks are 3-1 without their captain, but Toews has been missed.

"It's the power play, missing Johnny, too, that doesn't help, Hossa - a lot of key parts to our lineup, but it's going to get better," Patrick Kane said. "It's early in the season here and sometimes you have these little slumps.

"We can get better here, obviously, but things are going pretty well and our record (8-4-1) is pretty good."