Hawks still working to find some power play success

The struggling power play got a lot of attention at practice Saturday, where the emphasis was getting shots quickly to the net.

The Blackhawks were 0-for-2 in their Game 1 loss, but the power play was just 6-for-61 over the final 18 games of the regular season.

Dustin Byfuglien and Dave Bolland worked the points with the first unit at Saturday's practice with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp as the forwards.

"They're trying to get us to shoot more pucks and get more pucks there and get guys going to the net," Byfuglien said.

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville always has the option of putting Byfuglien in front of the net, where he was so effective last spring in the playoffs.

"It might happen and it might not," Byfuglien said.

The Hawks certainly need to create more traffic in front of 6-foot-5 Predators goalie Pekka Rinne.

"I still think we've got some guys that can go there," Quenneville said, reeling off the names of Troy Brouwer, Andrew Ladd and Tomas Kopecky. "We need more of that across the board by committee.

"Kaner (Patrick Kane) got a goal like that (Friday) by going to the front. Those are the type goals that are going to be there, but we have to be willing to create more traffic and second opportunities."

Easy does it: When Brian Campbell broke his collarbone on March 14, Hawks doctors said he would be back in seven to eight weeks.

Campbell has been out only four, but there remains hope he could return in this series.

Campbell will see the doctors again Sunday to get an update on his recovery.

"I have a (return) date to try and strive for," Campbell said Saturday. "If I said what it was and I don't come back then, it's not a winning situation for me.

"It's a date the doctors and trainers gave me from the beginning."

Stepping up: Predators goalie Pekka Rinne showed no nerves in his playoff debut on Friday, making 25 saves in the victory.

"They had some really good chances," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "Either you're going to step up or step back. He stepped up."

Knowing your opponent: It was no accident the Hawks had so few odd-man rushes in Friday's Game 1 loss.

"That's the kind of game we need to play to be successful, we all know that," Predators winger J.P. Dumont said. "They have such good transition that we don't want to create any turnovers at ay blue lines and we did a pretty good job of that."

It's all even: Anyone who knows the NHL isn't surprised by what happens every year in the first round when the low seeds have a good chance to upset the top seeds.

"It's parity," Barry Trotz said. "There's a lot of good teams that didn't make the playoffs that would be extremely dangerous and would go deep in the playoffs.

"That's what the NHL wanted to develop from the start with the salary cap and you're seeing that. There's not much difference between all the teams."

Mike Spellman contributed.