Jan. 13--It was a weary group of Blackhawks who gathered at center ice and managed to raise their sticks to salute the fans at the United Center following a victory over the Wild on Sunday night that capped a stretch of five games in eight nights.
Included in that span was a grueling set of back-to-back games Thursday and Friday that featured late-night travel from Minnesota to Edmonton. The Hawks are getting a well-deserved break with four days between Sunday's 4-1 win and Friday's game against the Jets. Not only won't the Hawks play in a game until then, they were scheduled to have Monday and Tuesday completely off before returning to practice Wednesday.
"We've been playing a lot of hockey," goaltender Corey Crawford said. "We get some physical and mental rest and it's going to be good for our team."
Added coach Joel Quenneville: "We had such a busy stretch so it will be nice to get a breather here and get excited about our nice, busy stretch going into the All-Star break."
The Hawks have four more games, including three straight at home beginning Friday, before a six-day gap for the All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 25.
"I don't really sleep well on the plane, so it's just nice to shut the brain off and just hang out with the family and then come back to work in a couple of days," winger Bryan Bickell said. "It's nice to relax and enjoy a couple of days off and regroup and then a couple of more games and then couple of more days off. Hopefully, we can have a good run going into the All-Star break."
Hit chart: It's no coincidence that Bickell's recent offensive roll of five goals and two assists in seven games comes at a time when he is delivering hits at an increased pace. During those seven games, Bickell has delivered a combined 28 hits and leads the Hawks with 103.
"That gets me into the game more," Bickell said. "And it opens up the ice for whomever I'm playing with to give them more opportunities with the puck and maybe just wear the 'D' down and maybe we'll get some turnovers. If I'm being physical and get them second-guessing where I am on the ice, that's what I need to do. It's been working. I just need to stick with it."
Morin redux: It's been nearly a month since the Dec. 14 trade that sent Jeremy Morin from the Hawks to the Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Tim Erixon. Morin went scoreless in 15 games with the Hawks and was unable to crack the lineup on a consistent basis. With the Jackets, Morin has one goal and one assist in 11 games. Hawks general manager Stan Bowman said it wasn't easy trading Morin, who was in the Hawks system for four years, but it was time to move on.
"I like Jeremy, he's a nice kid, he works hard, he's a talented player and I think he's going to be a good NHL player, but he was an asset that we weren't tapping into here," Bowman said. "It's about the team winning and the team was winning. There wasn't really a role for him. It's all sort of asset management and if you can turn him into a player we think highly of. I think the trade is going to benefit both teams and those are the best trades."
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