Can Hossa put together a good run?
GLENDALE, Ariz. — It’s been one nagging problem after another for Marian Hossa.
Two separate injuries, one a knee strain suffered in a collision with teammate Nick Boynton during practice, of all things, a case of vertigo and lately the flu have kept Hossa out of 17 games and parts of two others.
Hossa returned to the lineup Saturday against the Coyotes, and the Blackhawks desperately need him to stay healthy and regain his status as an offensive force if they are to have any hope of making the playoffs.
“I think we’d like to see him get on a roll like we know he can,” general manager Stan Bowman said. “He’s a dominant player and we’ve seen spurts of that. He’s had little things here and there, which every time he gets rollong then there’s a minor setback.
“We’d all like to see, for him more than anything, just the peace of mind to have a nice stretch where things go his way. He brings a lot to the table besides just the stat sheet. We recognize the value and it would be nice to see him put together a good run.”
Hossa played on a line with Tomas Kopecky and Michael Frolik against the Coyotes and set up Troy Brouwer’s power-play goal in the second period with a nice pass.
“We’ve seen him getting his game back to where it needs to be and something else happens,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We just need him to be the top player we saw at the start of the year and give us that consistently. We’re going to need it too.”
Injury report:
Apparently, Ryan Johnson’s was the most serious of the three injuries the Hawks suffered in Friday’s loss at Dallas.
Johnson was put on injured reserve Saturday with an upper body injury. Fernando Pisani didn’t play against the Coyotes, but Viktor Stalberg was able to go.
Center Jeff Taffe was recalled from Rockford to play when Jake Dowell came down with the flu.
The Hawks played the entire third period and overtime at Dallas without Johnson, Pisani and Stalberg, each of whom suffered upper body injuries.
“It was tough night for injuries,” Patrick Kane said. “I don’t think you can win a game with nine forwards if you came into game and just played like that.”
Numbers game:
Michael Frolik wears No. 67 because it’s close to the No. 68 his idol Jaromir Jagr wore in the NHL and still wears while playing in Russia.
Frolik won’t wear No. 68 out of respect for Jagr.
“I know 68 is untouchable so I just go one more lower,” Frolik said. “It’s Jaromir Jagr, you know, the best player in the world, he was. I can’t wear that number for sure.”
Joel Quenneville thought Frolik was OK in his debut on Friday when he had 5 shots in 17 minutes against the Stars.
“I’m sure it was being jittery, the first game and getting exposed to a new system and new teammates, new excitement,” Quenneville said. “I think as we go along we’ll get a better assessment of him.”
Follow the leader:While many of the Hawks are getting more and more frustrated with how the season is going, Joel Quenneville isn#146;t letting himself get caught up in the negative energy creeping into the team.#147;We all can#146;t be happy about losing games,#148; Quenneville said, #147;but at the same time we want to be positive and objective going forward and learning from what we did or didn#146;t do in a positive way and identify what we can do to enhance our chances of winning the next hockey game.#148;