So much for taking baby steps.
In his first full season coaching an NHL team stocked with rookies and new acquisitions, Denis Savard isn’t satisfied with the Blackhawks’ 5-4 start.
“I don’t want to be a 6-5 team, 7-6 [or] 8-7,” Savard said after Wednesday’s practice in Bensenville. “No. Let’s take it to the next level. We have people here who are able to do it — let’s get it done. We want to be a team in the upper echelon. For us to get there we need everybody to play at the same level.”
Just not at the level they played in Tuesday’s night’s 7-4 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus took advantage of the Hawks sending all three forwards to the net, which allowed the Blue Jackets to take long rebounds down ice in odd-man rushes.
“We want to create as much net-front traffic as we can,” forward Patrick Sharp said. “That has been a focus of ours since training camp. But there are times when you have to read the play and we need a third guy high. [We can’t] be aggressive going to the net at the wrong time — there’s a fine line.”
Savard showed his team video of Tuesday’s loss and worked on correcting the problem during practice.
“One thing that’s fun about hockey is you can fix it,” Savard said. “Hopefully I fixed it.”
Stopgap
Veteran goalie Nikolai Khabibulin will look to rebound after allowing six goals against Columbus when the Hawks travel to Boston to take on the Bruins on Thursday.
“Any time I get scored on six times I try to look at what I can do better,” Khabibulin said. “Games like that are going to happen. You try to not have them too often. … They had some bounces and some pretty good shots. Having said that, I’d like to find a way to stop those.”
One-timers
With his two goals and two assists Tuesday, rookie Patrick Kane is sixth in the league in scoring with 13 points and leads all rookies. “Maybe one day you think it’s going to happen but not really this early,” said Kane, 18, who has played in nine NHL games. “It’s a good feeling for me, I’m not going to lie. Now that you’re part of the team you want to establish yourself as one of the good players on the team.” … Savard said defenseman Magnus Johansson, who has been a healthy scratch the last two games, will return to the lineup Thursday. Center Yanic Perreault also could return after sitting Tuesday.
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ckuc@tribune.com
