Madden anxious to play Tuesday against Islanders

John Madden was back on the ice with his Blackhawks teammates Saturday and hopes to play on Tuesday against the Islanders.

Madden, who missed the last two games before the Olympic break after colliding knee-to-knee with teammate Kris Versteeg on Feb. 9 against Dallas, didn't participate in contact drills on Saturday but hopes to try it today.

"I felt pretty good actually; I was actually surprised," Madden said. "Obviously I didn't engage in any contact with the guys, but skating it felt pretty good.

"I don't know what the plan is, but (today) I'd like to get involved a little more. Rather than just doing flow drills, maybe some 1-on-1s, something in the corner to let me know where I am."

Even if Madden doesn't play on Long Island, the Hawks host Edmonton on Wednesday at the United Center.

"I'm hoping to (play Tuesday)," Madden said. "I'm being optimistic about it, but you've got to be fair at the same time. You don't want to rush back too soon. Lots of guys are healthy so it's not a matter of me needing to play either."

Madden said he hurt his knee in a collision with Versteeg while coming off the bench for a shift.

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said defenseman Brent Sopel and left wing Ben Eager both would be available to play against the Islanders after going into the break banged up.

Travel plans: The Hawks' six Olympians will fly from Vancouver directly to New York on Monday to meet up with the team.

Joel Quenneville said on Thursday he would expect all of them to be in the lineup against the Islanders, even with Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Patrick Kane playing in today's gold medal game.

Trouble in Sweden: Niklas Hjalmarsson reported the reaction in his native Sweden was not good after the Swedish Olympic team was upset by Slovakia in the Olympic quarterfinals.

"It was very bad, everybody getting blamed, fire the coach, all of that," Hjalmarsson said.

The Swedes had been one of the medal favorites going into the tournament.