All joking aside, Blackhawks' Andrew Shaw has elevated his game

Dec. 13--Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews thinks he has found the way to motivate forward Andrew Shaw to play better.

On Tuesday, Shaw, one of the biggest jokesters on the team, didn't appear to be in a jovial mood before the Hawks played the Predators.

"I don't know what it was the other day," Toews said. "He played with a chip on his shoulder. A lot of guys were giving him a hard time in the morning. Usually he's always in a great mood and that morning he was a little more sensitive to our jokes and humor than usual."

Maybe that's what got Shaw going against the Predators but he insisted that wasn't the case.

"I was just playing it like (Toews) got in my head but he never did," Shaw said. "I gave him the old silent treatment for a while. I think it was getting him pretty upset."

Regardless, the Hawks and Shaw may want to continue their act because over the last few games, Shaw has been as active on the ice as he has been all season. Tuesday Shaw had a goal and an assist in the victory over the Predators.

On Thursday, in an embarrassing 5-1 loss to the Predators in Nashville, Shaw was the only Hawk who seemed to play a complete 60 minutes.

His play prompted an otherwise angry coach Joel Quenneville to say afterward: "Shawzy was the one guy who left it out there. I liked what he did and what he brought."

Then in Friday's 2-0 victory against the Jets, Shaw assisted on Toews' power-play goal that opened the scoring.

Taking a look at Shaw's possession number, he has been up and down all season at even strength, but Quenneville has liked what he has seen recently.

"It seems like there's more pace to his game, he has more purpose to his game," Quenneville said. "He has the puck a lot more, he has been better with it as well in controlling it. ... I think the physicality part has been pretty consistent (all season) but there's more puck around him (now) and he's good with it as well. That's the progress I see in him."

Shaw said his improved play has been a product of re-committing to the things that make him valuable to the Hawks -- being a physical presence and getting to the front of the net, something the Hawks were lacking in their game most of the season.

"I didn't start the way I wanted to," Shaw said. "The past few games I've been getting into the swing of things. Getting in on the forecheck and sustaining pucks, going to the net and going to those dirty areas."

Shaw has been moving around the lines and has played just about everywhere, and at both wing and center, though of late he has been more on a wing. Shaw said moving lines and changing linemates was no excuse for his slow start.

"We played with each other for so many years so I think there's chemistry always there but ... playing different positions, I'm OK with it," Shaw said. "I don't think it was anything of where I was playing, it was just what I was doing out there."

Perhaps being cranky off the ice is helping with that.

chine@tribpub.com