He has repeated it so often he probably says it in his sleep: “Stick on puck, stick on puck.”
“As soon as you put your stick on the waist of a guy, you’re looking for trouble,” Blackhawks assistant coach Denis Savard said.
The Hawks have found trouble staying out of the penalty box in the first seven games of the season, one reason they are off to a 2-5 start.
Savard said part of the problem might be with players staying on the ice too long during shifts.
“We have to change before we’re tired,” Savard said. “When we’re tired, that’s when these things happen.”
Turnovers usually happen when a player is tired, which creates a snowball effect. The player that turned the puck over is now out of position, too tired to get back into position, so he ends up hooking or grabbing onto a player.
“You can’t do it, it’s as simple as that,” Savard said. “It’s easy for me to say–I’m not playing–but you can’t do it.”
Savard said the only way the Hawks will turn around their penalty habits is if the pressure comes from within the dressing room.
“[The players] drive the bus, they have to make a choice on that,” Savard said. “Hopefully they catch on. We can’t be taking 10 penalties a game.”
Captain Adrian Aucoin said the issue has been addressed among the players and will continue to be addressed.
“It has to be from everyone,” Aucoin said. “You don’t want to let down the guy sitting next to you.”
Aucoin did not skate Thursday, nursing the sore groin he reinjured early in the third period of Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to Vancouver. He’s not sure when he’ll skate again, although he said he didn’t think this latest injury was as bad as when he originally suffered it on Oct. 7.
Also not skating for a fifth straight day was winger Tuomo Ruutu.
“We’re going to take our time with him,” Savard said. “He felt a little better but obviously not at 100 percent yet.”
Savard said he would like to have Ruutu practice once and perhaps take part in a morning skate before putting him in the lineup Sunday night against Minnesota. Ruutu was scratched Tuesday with a sore back that has been bothering him since training camp.
“We need to get a practice in or two with him, hopefully,” Savard said. “You just can’t go into a game and not practice for a week and expect to play.”
Savard and assistant coach Bruce Cassidy ran practice Thursday with head coach Trent Yawney attending to family matters at his home in Saskatchewan.
Yawney won’t return to Chicago until Sunday evening and Savard and Cassidy will run the bench against Minnesota.
———-
rfoltman@tribune.com
