Feb. 13--There was very little strategy involved with the Blackhawks' practice Friday.
Instead, most of the short session just focused on puck battles.
No diagrams, no walkthroughs, just flat out battles for the puck -- one-on-one, two-on-two and three-on-three. Coach Joel Quenneville said he is looking for the Hawks to have faster starts.
"We were very slow out of the gate basically two games in a row," Quenneville said. "When we we're more competitive in the puck area, it's more of how we're effective. You get the puck more ... and you can keep it longer."
Holding the puck battles is one way Quenneville hopes to bring out the competitiveness in his team.
"We had some success before. We were hungrier and we were more competitive," Quenneville said.
Svedberg gets call again: Viktor Svedberg is back with the Blackhawks for a third time this season.
The team recalled the defenseman from Rockford and Svedberg will join the Hawks in advance of Saturday night's game against the Ducks.
Svedberg has played in 16 games this season over two separate stays with the team.
Svedberg played 15 games in his first stretch as he helped the team compensate for the loss of Duncan Keith, who missed time because of knee surgery. And Svedberg was with the Hawks on their recent trip after the All-Star break. He last played in the Hawks victory over the Avalanche on Feb. 2.
PK not OK: It has been a rough week for the Hawks' penalty killers. The two units have given up a combined three goals in the last two games.
But despite the recent struggles, Quenneville doesn't sound as if he is about to radically alter personnel, though he is upset.
"Basically, the way we played in the first period (Thursday) continued on the PK," Quenneville said. "Whether the purpose wasn't there or our sticks, they were never in the lane."
