Turco handles puck well in win over Wild

NEW YORK — Not only did Marty Turco make 25 saves in Saturday's 3-1 win at Minnesota, it was his best game of the season handling the puck.

Apparently, Turco has been “encouraged” by the Blackhawks' coaching staff to get more involved in moving the puck.

“I'm coachable,” Turco said. “I was told get it, rip it, so I did it.”

Wild coach Todd Richards felt Turco's play with the puck was a factor in his team's inability to generate offense.

“He nullified our forecheck,” Richards said. “We didn't put pucks in the right area. He's like a defenseman out there. He's so good at handling the puck. He's an experienced guy and he knows how to win.”

Turco rebounded nicely from Friday's 7-4 loss to Edmonton where he was pulled after the first period.

“My personality is staying on an even keel,” Turco said. “I've got to stay composed. Some defeats you do take a lot more personal than others based on timing, the way it went down or timing of the season. The sooner you can bank it and use it in a positive way it's better.

“It's almost good to get back playing the next night. I was fortunate they started me again and I was happy to come through.”

Showing confidence:

With a little more than a minute to play Saturday, the Hawks were clinging to a 2-1 lead with the Wild goalie pulled for a sixth attacker. At that point, coach Joel Quenneville had the line of Jake Dowell, Jack Skille and Ben Smith on the ice. That said a lot about the confidence Quenneville is developing in Dowell, who ended up scoring into an empty net.

“It's an offensive zone faceoff, there's a purpose there; I think we're looking to check and keep it simple,” Quenneville said.

Smith was impressive in 13 minutes in his second NHL game, both on the first line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane and with Dowell.

Playing keep away:

For much of Saturday's game the Hawks looked like they did last season by controlling the tempo with their puck possession.

“I thought all our lines had a purpose,” Joel Quenneville said. “We had a lot of puck possession in the offensive zone. There was a purpose when we did have the puck and we supported the puck well.”

What the Hawks did was nothing the Wild's John Madden hadn't seen before.

“They're a good puck-possession team,” said the ex-Hawk, who helped win the Stanley Cup last season. “They use the ice well. They exit their zone really well and they don't always use the boards. Sometimes a defenseman lugs it up the ice.

“They take care of the puck. For us, we could learn a little bit from that.”