His message heard loud and clear

Joel Quenneville is so good at this, so adept at manipulating and motivating young players, that you wonder if there haven't been times this year that he hoped for a week or two of adversity.

Some injuries and a couple of defeats gave the Blackhawks' bench boss exactly that, a chance to get back inside his players' heads and get them thinking team and defense again at a crucial time of year.

It's difficult for the best of coaches to get their players' attention when things are going well, but Quenneville has their collective ear now, and you saw the result Wednesday night at the UC.

The Hawks bounced back from a couple of bad losses to play a solid game and handle a red-hot Carolina club 3-2, winning a shootout and putting in the past a 2-5 stretch that sent the faithful into a dither.

They had to overcome a tying goal in the final minute by ex-Hawk Tuomo Ruutu after captain Jonathan Toews took a hooking penalty with the Hawks up 2-1.

But Cristobal Huet, who has not been at his best lately, made three terrific stops on the Canes' Eric Staal in overtime, saving a point for the Hawks and giving them a chance to win it in the shootout.

"He's one of the best goaltenders in the league,'' said Kris Versteeg, who had a goal in regulation and the winner in the shootout. "He showed tonight why he's one of the best.''

Quenneville showed too why he's one of the best in the league, and he has been exceptional from the start.

The Hawks coach could easily be mentioned in the same breath as Ozzie Guillen at the top, or at least near it, of the best coaches (or managers) in the city, certainly ahead of Vinny Del Negro, Lovie Smith and Lou Piniella at this point.

So take comfort, Hawks fans, in knowing that whatever this is, and whatever it should be, Quenneville will get that out of his club.

If they're meant to hold on to home-ice for the first round, and even win a round, Quenneville will figure out a way to make sure it happens.

And if it's not, then he will have done the best with what he's got, tell management what he needs over the summer, and in the meantime the Hawks will have gained three things they didn't have when the season began:

A top-notch NHL coach, the experience and fatigue of fighting for a playoff position, and the knowledge that comes with losing tough battles.

But that's for many weeks down the road. For the time being, the Hawks are fighting the fight, and it's a necessary part of the growing process, however painful it may be at times.

"We did a lot of good things tonight. Even when we were down, we didn't change our approach, and we were rewarded for it,'' Quenneville said. "We're gonna be in games like this from now on, and you have to learn to stick with the plan even when you're behind.''

That message was delivered this week and taken to heart.

"We worked hard tonight,'' Versteeg said. "We did some things better that we haven't been doing lately.''

It looked like it would be more of the same Wednesday until Versteeg tied it at 1-1 late in the second.

Up until then, they were squeezing their sticks - Patrick Kane missed three breakaways - and showed a lack of patience in tight, making blind passes they took the time to see a few weeks ago.

Quenneville can fix that, but he can't take a seven-year veteran like Brian Campbell and force him to play defense, or at $7.1 million a year take away his ice time for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

So Campbell was terrible again Wednesday, getting undressed by Sergei Samsonov on Carolina's first goal, and later missing an open net and another easy one from the crease.

Campbell, who's hearing more and more boos with every shift, can't catch a pass much less make one right now, and he's fighting it so much that half the time he looks like he doesn't want the puck.

As of now Quenneville merely looks like a genius with what he has been able to get out of the Hawks, especially players such as Andrew Ladd and Martin Havlat, who essentially were useless before Quenneville arrived.

If he can somehow salvage Campbell, genius won't be praise enough.

brozner@dailyherald.com