Versteeg's back - in a big way
Talk about a great recovery.
Since sitting out a pair of games due to illness in late December, Blackhawks forward Kris Versteeg has been a man on a mission.
"I had some bad migraines; it was a rough couple of days," Versteeg said. "When you see the team winning, you want to be back out on the ice so bad. I was kind of champing at the bit."
It showed.
In the nine games since returning to the lineup, not only has the third-year player out of Lethbridge, Alberta, been his usual pesky self at both ends of the ice, he has also been a scoring machine, notching 11 points (3 goals, 8 assists) over that span to up his season totals to 13 goals and 31 points.
"Since I've been back," he said, "I've just tried to play my game and see how it goes."
He played a big part in the Hawks' first 2 goals during Thursday's 3-0 over Columbus, with his first assist - on Brian Campbell's goal one minute into the game - being a thing of beauty. On the play, Versteeg zipped a circle-to-circle pass to a breaking Campbell, who easily scored his sixth goal of the season.
"I was lucky enough to get a good pass from Versteeg and get up with the rush and make something happen," Campbell said. "Anytime you can score early, it's great."
Versteeg's career-high, nine-game scoring streak is the fourth-longest active streak in the NHL.
"I didn't even know that," he said. "My line has been creating chances. Any time we can be productive, it's only a positive."
"He's been very good lately in production, puck possession and speed," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said of Versteeg. "And that line has been very productive, very effective and done a great job."
For Versteeg and Co. it was just nice to get the Hawks back into the win column after suffering back-to-back losses over the weekend. It was nice giving the fans something to cheer for again.
"They deserve it," Versteeg said. "The last two games we were off. In the Anaheim game we didn't give them what they wanted, so it was nice to come out here and give it to them tonight."