Frolik believes he’ll like Hawks’ style of play

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Two games into his Blackhawks career and Michael Frolik is still getting his feet wet.

Frolik is minus-1 with no points and 7 shots. He played 16 minutes in Saturday’s shootout loss to the Coyotes after getting 17 minutes on Friday at Dallas.

“It’s a little bit different than Florida,” Frolik said. “You play more with the puck here. I like that style and hopefully I’m going to fit well.

“I’ve felt better as the games go on. Hopefully every game is going to be better and better. That’s what I’m looking for.”

Frolik has joined the team at a tough time, with the Hawks struggling.

“I think we have a great group here,” Frolik said. “We have to believe we can win the games.”

Frolik has played left wing in both games. Coach Joel Quenneville on Saturday had Frolik with Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky, a line he wants to get a good look at in the coming games.

“I’m looking forward to that line,” Quenneville said. “We still like the make up of our lines.”

Staying together:

After taking Sunday off, the Hawks will be back at practice today to prepare for their three critical home games.

The Hawks lost ground in the Western Conference standings by going 2-2-2 on their road trip.

“Not the best,” Jonathan Toews said of the trip. “We’ve just got to keep going hard to the net and playing ugly hockey and we’ll get our bounces. We’re not scoring as many goals as we want to right now, but we have to be smarter and find a way to keep pucks out of our own net.

“Hopefully we come out of these tough games better as a team. The time is now to be together and not let some of these tougher losses separate us and keep us apart. We need to find a way to bond as much as we can right now.”

Toews knows there are only 26 games left to make the playoffs happen.

“It sounds like a lot, but we can’t keep waiting and procrastinating, saying we have time and we’ll get the job done,” Toews said. “We’re not looking at it as a 26-game thing. All we can worry about is the next one.”

Roster shuffle:

Defenseman Nick Leddy and center Jeff Taffe were assigned to Rockford on Sunday.

Leddy was sent back for salary cap purposes while Taffe was an emergency recall with Jake Dowell unable to play Saturday because of the flu.

The Hawks aren’t sure when Fernando Pisani might be available to play again. Pisani suffered an upper body injury in Friday’s loss at Dallas.

“I know we said day-to-day,” Joel Quenneville said. “He seems to be doing OK, but to say exactly how long, we’ll see. We don’t think it’s that long.”

Ryan Johnson is on injured reserve with an upper body injury suffered at Dallas and wouldn’t be eligible to play again until Sunday against Pittsburgh.