For Adam Burish, overcoming the pain of his broken big right toe was a lot easier than being forced to watch his Blackhawks teammates from afar.
After missing 16 games, the forward returned to the lineup in the Hawks’ 5-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Sunday night and was delighted to rejoin the action.
“It was a treat to be back,” he said. “The first couple of shifts I was a little nervous, but I felt fine out there.”
Burish injured the toe at practice in late November, and Sunday night he switched places with star winger Patrick Kane, who is considered day-to-day with a right high-ankle sprain and viewed the bulk of the game from the press box.
“Watching the games, it’s terrible,” said Burish, who had one shot on goal in 11 minutes 32 seconds against the Flames.
“I talked to Kaner right after the game, and he’s like, ‘I don’t know how you did it for four weeks. This is terrible. I couldn’t even watch the whole game.’
“You sit there and watch the game and you can’t do anything. You’ll see something happening and you want to get out there and help guys and be a part of it.”
Hawks coach Joel Quenneville was pleased to have Burish, who is second on the Hawks with 49 penalty minutes in 19 games, back on the ice in his role as agitator.
“He gives us energy,” Quenneville said. “You like his speed and quickness and enthusiasm.”
Hard feelings? When the Hawks take on the Coyotes on Tuesday night, it will be the first meeting between the teams since the Hawks hammered Phoenix 7-1 on Dec. 7 at the United Center. In the waning seconds of that game a skirmish broke out, and eventually the Hawks’ Kris Versteeg ended up in a fight with the Coyotes’ Kyle Turris in a battle of rookies. After the game, livid Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said, “I hope our guys are ready to respond.”
They’ll get that opportunity Tuesday night.
“We’re just going to go out there and play our hockey game,” said Versteeg, who was suspended for one game for the incident. “That was a long time ago. I haven’t even thought about it since the day it happened, so it’s not a big deal to me.
“I’m pretty sure they don’t even remember it. If they do, they do. I’m thinking about going to Phoenix and trying to play my game and help the Blackhawks win.”
Added Quenneville: “There’s always a little bit of what happened last game, but it’s a new game, it’s a fresh game and fresh shift every time you’re out there. You have to play hard and expect a hard game.”
Time change: The Predators have changed the time of their game Saturday against the Hawks in Nashville from 7 to 7:30 p.m. so it doesn’t conflict with the Tennessee Titans’ AFC semifinal against Baltimore, which starts at 3:30 p.m.
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ckuc@tribune.com
