Crawford to start for Hawks vs. Stars

For Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, playing the hot hand won out over sentimentality when it came to picking a starting goalie for Wednesday night's game against Dallas at the United Center.

Quenneville decided rookie Corey Crawford deserved to keep the net instead of Mary Turco starting against his former team.

Turco was with the Stars for nine seasons and holds nearly every franchise record for goalies.

“(Crawford) is playing well and has a little bit of a roll going,” said Quenneville, who called it a tough decision to keep Turco away from his old team.

Turco said he understood Quenneville's call.

“We're going to go with the winning formula,” Turco said. “Corey's playing well and deserves to (start). If it was an Eastern Conference team and this was my only shot at them this year, I might puff out my chest, but it's not a big deal to me. I'm sure I'll get another shot at them this year.”

Turco is all about winning and knows Crawford is the hot goalie at this point in the season.

“That was the reason I came here and that's to win,” Turco said. “I have zero problem with it. I didn't come to Chicago to be a part of the Blackhawks organization to beat the Dallas Stars. I came to win and be a part of a winning formula with people that respect it. I certainly do. The guy's playing well and he's hot.”

Home sweet home:

With Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa out with injuries, taking advantage of a heavy home schedule becomes even more important for the Hawks.

The Hawks play 14 of their next 21 games at the United Center.

“I know the conference is stacking up and everybody is in the mix and it's going to make for a great run right to the end,” Joel Quenneville said. “We want to make sure we take care of business no matter who's in the lineup and value the 2 points.”

Health update:

Neither Marian Hossa (lower body) nor Fernando Pisani (upper body) practiced Tuesday, meaning the soonest they could return is this weekend. Next week is more likely for Hossa.

“Pisani, we expect him on the ice in the next couple-three days and Hoss maybe towards the end of the weekend,” Joel Quenneville said.

Tip-ins:

Joel Quenneville said it was possible two forwards would be recalled from Rockford to play Wednesday against Dallas with one of them likely to be rookie Jeremy Morin, who was sent down Monday in a salary-cap move. … Ryan Potulny is another candidate. …

Morin and Rockford defenseman Nick Leddy officially were added to the U.S. roster Tuesday for the World Junior Championships that start Dec. 26 in Buffalo. The U.S. camp opens Dec. 17.