Dach moves up to Blackhawks' top power-play unit
Kirby Dach replaced Ryan Carpenter on the Blackhawks' first-unit power play during practice at Fifth Third Arena on Thursday.
Dach moved into the 'bumper' spot on the PP, or the middle position of the 1-3-1 setup.
Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Jonathan Toews and Seth Jones are the other skaters on the top power play. The chemistry between Kane, DeBrincat and Dach on the Hawks' top line has been growing, which is a big reason why coach Derek King made the switch.
"It's (also) a lot easier for changing lines, so you're not messing up too much," King said. "And then (Carpenter), he's such a good killer, so he gets a lot of ice (time) on his kills. He can concentrate just on that for now."
The Hawks went 9-for-34 (26.5%) on the power play in the first eight games. They are 1-for-16 in the last six.
Injury update:
Tyler Johnson continues to make progress from a neck injury, but he did not practice Thursday. Coach Derek King thinks the veteran forward may take part in morning skate Friday when the Hawks prepare to host Arizona.
"This is not Patrick Kane: You come off 2 weeks without skating, you go in, you get your hat trick and everyone's happy," King said. "We've got to watch out for this. That's a scary type of injury where we don't want to mess around with it."
Nice gesture:
When Ryan Carpenter's stick popped into the stands during the Hawks' 2-1 OT win over Nashville at the United Center on Sunday, it came to rest in a woman's hands in the front row.
Someone in the penalty box took it away and it ended up back in Carpenter's hands.
"As it was happening I saw there was some booing going on," Carpenter said of the crowd's reaction. "Then I ended up getting the stick back. I was like, 'They didn't let her keep it?'"
This shocked the Hawks' forward, so he took it upon himself to right the wrong.
"I wrote her a little message on the stick and gave her the original stick," Carpenter said.
Slap shot:
Defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk scored on a long third-period slap shot during the Rockford IceHogs' 4-3 OT loss to Iowa on Wednesday. Blackhawks coach Derek King wasn't sure if Kalynuk, who is coming back from an ankle injury, will need another game or two with the IceHogs before being recalled.