Thursday is opening night for Blackhawks’ defenseman Steve Smith, who will see action for the first time after missing the first 14 games with a back problem.
“It’s the most important game of the year to me,” says Smith. “I can’t promise a great performance but I can promise a lot of enthusiasm and excitement.”
“He’s a piece of the puzzle that we knew from the beginning would be important for us,” says Coach Craig Hartsburg. “He’s going to add that dimension of toughness.”
Hartsburg said he wasn’t concerned about Smith’s back under game conditions. “He’s had some tough practices and he’ll be ready to go,” Hartsburg promised.
Nicholls update: The Blackhawks received good news on center Bernie Nicholls Wednesday when a CAT scan on his bruised spleen was negative. Nicholls, who was injured in Sunday night’s 7-3 loss to Colorado, will have another test in two weeks and if that also proves negative will be allowed to resume practice. Nicholls is expected to be out at least three weeks.
Lefties, righties: Murray Craven is taking Nicholls’ place on the No. 1 power play unit and there will be a noticeable difference. Craven, who is left-handed, will position himself on the right halfboards, whereas Nicholls always played on the left side. That means that, where Nicholls would look first to Gary Suter on a pass out to the blue line, Craven will look to Chris Chelios.
Quite a pair: Vancouver’s Russian stars Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny have been skating on the same line for the last three games and had their best game Tuesday night in a 5-2 win over the Islanders.
