Potential there for Blackhawks’ power play

So far after two games the Blackhawks’ power play is 1-for-11. Cause for concern?

Hardly, not with offensive firepower at coach Joel Quenneville’s disposal.

The Hawks should again be one of the top five power plays in the NHL with two strong units and dangerous goal scorers such as Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa and Andrew Brunette.

There is one thing about the power play, though: Why so many missed chances when it’s 5-on-3?

After going 3-for-14 with a two-man advantage a year ago, the Hawks failed on their first 5-on-3 of the season Saturday in their win over Dallas. This one lasted 51 seconds, but the Hawks passed it around too much looking for the perfect play.

Any good 5-on-3 begins and ends with shots from the top of the circles or closer as the defense collapses.

“It depends on how much time you have out there and the personnel,” Quenneville said. “We misfired and hit the net, not just on 5-on-3 but on the power play and 5-on-5 (Saturday).

“We definitely were misfiring our shots, but at the same time we did some good things on the power play. At the same time we need to be cashing in at better rate (5-on-3).”

Meanwhile, the penalty-killing is showing the promise of being improved from ranking 25th last season.

“I like that we’re grasping it,” Quenneville said. “We’ll get more predictable and we’ll understand all the movements and little plays that we’ll see and different looks that teams will be throwing at us. That’s a constant adjustment.”

Toews, Hossa, Dave Bolland, Michael Frolik, Marcus Kruger and Jamal Mayers were the six forwards Quenneville used to kill penalties Saturday, along with defensemen Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Nicklas Hjalmarsson and Sean O’Donnell.

The plan going into the season was to possibly cut back on the ice time for Keith and Seabrook on the penalty kill, but that might not be the way it plays out.

Staying healthy:After missing considerable time the last two seasons with injuries, Dave Bolland#146;s primary goal is to stay on the ice for as many games as possible. Bolland again showed how much he means to the Hawks on Saturday with 2 goals in the win over Dallas after missing Friday#146;s opener with an upper-body injury.#147;It#146;s never fun getting injured, but coming back and playing well was great,#148; Bolland said. #147;It#146;s tough because you wish you could go 82 games with no injury, but it#146;s a grind. It#146;s a tough game and injuries are going to come. To battle back from little ones and get back into it is key.#148;Stalberg update:The Hawks say Viktor Stalberg is recovering quickly from his knee injury and could resume skating this week.#147;He#146;s getting close,#148; Joel Quenneville said. #147;He#146;s really progressing. I think we#146;re close to getting him back out on the ice, and we#146;ll get a better indication when he is back on the ice. But he#146;s progressing well.#148;