Frustrated Shaw hardly enjoying his time off

Although he won't play in today's Game 6, the news on injured forward Andrew Shaw seems to be getting better.

"He's progressing, but he's not on the trip," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We said he's day to day at the beginning of the series. But now he's a little closer to day to day, so ..."

But even though the prognosis seems brighter for Shaw and his apparent injured knee, it doesn't make having to watch his teammates from the sidelines any easier for the young forward.

"I know (he's frustrated). He texted me a couple of times and asked, 'How did you do it from last year?'" Bryan Bickell said of the knee injury he suffered last season.

"It's just a battle. A lot of it's mental. There's going to be a time soon enough that he's going to be back on the ice and willing to get back in the lineup.

"I've been down that road. It's a tough bounce. But he's truly missed."

Shaw, who has yet to skate but may get on the ice in the next couple of days, has 2 goals and 2 assists in seven playoff games this season, but it's all the other little things he brings to a game that the Hawks could use here in crunch time.

"He brings an intangible that you appreciate when you do have him in your lineup - that feistiness, that competitiveness, you lose a little bit of that," Quenneville said.

"He's a little fireball out there," Bickell said. "He's one of those guys that does whatever it takes to help the team win.

"He's got one of the biggest hearts on the team for the size and the talent that he has he does really well with it."

Asked if there are any other Shaws on the team, Quenneville just shook his head.

"No, I don't think there are too many Shaws around the league," he said. "He's a unique player."