Blackhawks’ Frolik to fill in at center for Bolland

WASHINGTON — With Dave Bolland sidelined indefinitely by a concussion, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville will look to Michael Frolik to fill the void at center on the line with Marian Hossa and Bryan Bickell.

Frolik is normally a winger, and he professed his preference to play along the wall after being acquired from Florida last month, but he’s ready to help out in the middle behind Jonathan Toews.

“I’ve got a few practices in at center and feel for sure better than when I jumped in there during the game (at Tampa Bay after Bolland got hurt),” Frolik said. “I have good linemates and hopefully I’m going to do a good job there.”

The biggest adjustment, Frolik said, will be the responsibilities that come defensively at center.

“It’s a different mind-set,” he said. “You have more responsibility in the defensive zone helping the defensemen. You have to put in your mind what you have to do there.”

Quenneville liked what he saw from Frolik at center for two periods at Tampa Bay and in practices on Friday and Saturday.

“Over time we’re looking forward to assessing how he handles center,” Quenneville said. “I thought he did a nice job, what he was going out there and how he positioned himself. I thought on faceoffs it was a surprise how well he did.”

Quenneville doesn’t know long the Hawks will be without Bolland, who suffered a concussion when he was elbowed in the head by Tampa Bay defenseman Pavel Kubina on Wednesday.

“It’s tough to judge,” Quenneville said. “We’re seeing a little progress.”

Campbell a maybe:

While the Hawks won’t have Dave Bolland against the Capitals, there’s a chance defenseman Brian Campbell returns from his lower body injury.

“We’re going to say game-time decision,” Joel Quenneville said following Saturday’s practice. “He’s going to try it and we’ll go from there.”

If Campbell plays it would be his first encounter with Alex Ovechkin since last March 14 when the Washington star shoved the Hawks defenseman into the boards from behind at the United Center.

Campbell suffered a broken collarbone and was sidelined until the playoffs.

“Payback is trying to win the hockey game,” Quenneville said. “There’s no getting even. You have to be smart, you have to be disciplined and you have to have a purpose behind how you play. That was last year and that was dealt with.

“We’ve got to control what we can control and that’s being smart how we play and being excited about playing here. It’s an important 2 points for us and that’s our thought process.”

Start it up:

The Hawks know they must eliminate the lulls they’ve had in games.

“Even during the winning streak we had a lot of games where we took one period off and made games that shouldn’t have been very close,” winger Troy Brouwer said.

“We’re just trying to find a way to make sure we’re playing the entire game. Whether it’s a first-, second- or third- period lapse, we’ve been doing them all as of late and we just have to straighten it out and make sure we’re finding our game the entire game.”