Injury-depleted Hawks take it to Red Wings

From the top of the lineup to the bottom, the Blackhawks played to their potential on Friday night.

Now the trick is to do it again next game, next week and more times than not going forward.

A power-play goal by Patrick Sharp 64 seconds into the game gave the Hawks the momentum they rode to a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at the United Center.

Tomas Kopecky scored twice and Bryan Bickell once to back the spot-on goaltending of rookie Corey Crawford, who made 29 saves in helping the Hawks end a three-game losing skid.

If the Hawks are looking to get on that elusive roll, this was a good way to start.

"You realize how good a hockey team you can be if you put the effort in and pay attention to detail," Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell said. "Definitely it's a great stepping stone, a tough game against a tough team that we desperately needed."

The Hawks held the Red Wings to just 15 shots in the last two periods, clearing rebounds away from Crawford and giving little to Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

"A lot of time it all starts with our forwards doing a good job getting in lanes and getting back to support us," Campbell said.

"That was probably our best game in the last few," Crawford said. "They didn't get much in the third period and we just shut them down."

Maybe most importantly, the Hawks didn't take a single penalty to keep the potent Detroit power play off the ice.

"Against that team," said Crawford, "it's kind of nice we didn't have to see that tonight."

Said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville: "They seem to get not only zone time but a lot of momentum off their power play whether they score or not because they make plays, get in your zone and all of a sudden they get some great looks and open you up a little bit."

Leading 2-1, the Hawks got a huge goal from Kopecky at 11:22 of the second period, set up beautifully by Campbell during a delayed penalty to Detroit.

"This was a good confidence boost for us," Kopecky said. "We just played hard and we competed a little more than they did."

"They played harder than we did, for longer," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

The win moved the Hawks from 12th to eighth in the crazy Western Conference race, where not even Babcock feels comfortable in first place.

"I just figure if you don't win every day you're in trouble here," Babcock said. "We thought after 20 games we got off to a good start and we look down and there was no separation between us and anybody.

"Obviously it's scary for everyone involved, but the good thing is it looks like if you get in you're going to have an opportunity."

Tim Sassone's game tracker

Blackhawks 4, Red Wings 1

Three stars

1. Corey Crawford, Hawks: A 29-save dandy.

2. Brian Campbell, Hawks: Played almost 27 minutes and was plus-2 with a key assist and 4 blocked shots.

3. Tomas Kopecky, Hawks: His first 2-goal game of the season.

Skille set

It was a big night for Hawks winger Jack Skille, who had an assist and 9 shots on goal. “He was great tonight. He had a lot of pace to his game, went to the net, was a threat and certainly gave us some energy,” coach Joel Quenneville said.