Blackhawks coach Alpo Suhonen wants his team to come up with some resolutions for 2001. He wants the Hawks to refocus on the next couple of weeks and set new goals while on a three-game winning streak.
“We will have a meeting Wednesday morning so we can discuss what steps we will take now,” said Suhonen after Tuesday’s practice. “The time before the All-Star break will be crucial for us. We have to get over .500 by then. It’s tough, but it’s possible.”
The Hawks take a 13-18-2-2 record into the first game after the Christmas break, with their 30 points leaving them 10 out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. They are 11 points behind the seventh-place Phoenix Coyotes, who come to the town Wednesday night. Detroit visits the United Center on Friday, and the Hawks close the year in Carolina. Three home games open the 2001 portion of the schedule.
Butto make a run at Suhonen’s goal by the break, which comes the first weekend of February, the Hawks need to be prepared.
“Certain moments in a game will have defensive pressure with the puck in our own zone,” Suhonen said. “Certain moments will have offense, where we have to score. We need to accept the pressure both ways. Read it right and be ready to play.”
Captain Tony Amonte, who scored two goals in Saturday’s 3-2 win at Ottawa, said he didn’t have much time to think about the three-game winning streak and the Hawks’ next stretch while he spent Christmas with his family. But he does like Suhonen’s approach of keeping the team goal-oriented, especially in the short term.
“Alpo wants to give us goals that are manageable to think about,” Amonte said.
“You don’t think about 50 games, just the next three or four. Actually, he will probably say we need eight or 10 points in the next five or six games.
“Those are realistic goals we can achieve. Nobody is going to get into the playoffs with just one victory. It will take a string of wins to get us back in.”
Jocelyn Thibault threw out 90 points as the total the team will need to reach the playoffs, leaving the Hawks to pick up 60 points in the next 47 games by his math.
And with the recent victories over Nashville, Vancouver and Ottawa, their new level of confidence might make that figure a little bit more realistic.
“I’m not going to say we are going to win 10 in a row,” Thibault said. “In the past, we have won a few in a row, thought we were going to win the Cup and then go back in the hole again.
“We now know we can beat good teams. We just have to go off what we have built in the last few games.”
It’s a girl: Dean McAmmond looked as if he picked up the same case of the flu bothering Thibault over the past week. Instead, he was suffering from the wonderful after-effects of the birth of his daughter, Morgan. “It’s really quite a blessing,” McAmmond said. “I’m lacking a little bit in sleep over the last few days, but it’s just a great experience.”
McAmmond left Ottawa early Saturday morning to be with his wife but missed Morgan’s birth by four hours.
“I really wanted to be there, not just for the birth but to be there for my wife,” McAmmond said. “She’s a great girl, quite a trooper. This was just a great Christmas present.”
Back in action: Defenseman Jamie Allison will return against Phoenix. He missed the last game after stopping a puck with the arch of his right foot and sustaining a severe bruise.
McAmmond will also return to the lineup, and Thibault, who had the flu, pronounced himself 100 percent healthy.
“I’ve had enough flu problems already this season,” Thibault said. “I just want to stay healthy the rest of the way.”
