Hawks' Bickell gets the message

After sitting out the last two games for what Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville deemed a lack of consistency, winger Bryan Bickell was back in the lineup Wednesday night against the New Jersey Devils.

“I thought that last year it seemed he would come up for a game and was a great fit for us,” Quenneville said.

“This year he got off to a decent start, but guys who get to this level, that's the difference between playing there (AHL) and playing here every day here you're expected to be at a certain level, and consistency is probably the best measuring stick for our level.”

Following Wednesday's morning skate, Bickell was like a caged animal waiting to be freed.

“Now I've got a little spark in my eye, got a little hunger,” he said. “For me to get in the game is for me to get physical the first couple of shifts and get all fired up.”

That's just what he did, leading the way with 4 first-period hits.

A final salute:

As part of Wednesday's pregame ceremony, there was a moment of silence in honor of Ed Litzenberger, who passed away Monday at 78 in Toronto.

Litzenberger (416 points in 618 games) served as captain of the Blackhawks from 1958-61 and before the team's 2010 title was the last man to captain the Hawks to a Stanley Cup championship.

Asbestos they can:

The Hawks seemed a little surprised to learn that the day after they played the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks-Magic game was canceled because of a problem with asbestos installation.

“I came in this morning and I heard that and I was wondering if I felt funny,” joked coach Joel Quenneville.

“It's pretty crazy,” Patrick Kane said. “I'm sure my cousin would like to hear that story because he does asbestos work back in Buffalo.”

Kane took mock offense to the fact that the Hawks and the Rangers played the night before, but the next day's basketball game at the Garden was canceled.

“What's up with that?” he said. “I guess we're not as important.”

Bolland update:

Joel Quenneville on the progress made by injured forward Dave Bolland (ribs): “We expect him real quickly to return to the ice. If we get him on the ice Thursday or Friday, we'll know more.”