IT’S SICKENING
HAWKSHAVEN’TBEENTHESAMEWITHOUTILLPANARIN
He didn’t practice Friday, but there’s a chance rookie Artemi Panarin will play Saturday night against the Anaheim Ducks at the United Center.
The Blackhawks have lost the last two games without Panarin. The sooner he returns, the better, not only for the Hawks, but specifically for Artem Anisimov and Patrick Kane. Panarin’s linemates haven’t looked the same without him.
“We’re encouraged there today,” said coach Joel Quenneville, who put his team through a spirited practice at the United Center. “He was around. Didn’t skate today, but he was working out off the ice, so he made good progress. So hopefully at the same rate [ Saturday] . . . hopefully he’s playing.”
While Quenneville is holding out hope for Panarin’s return, Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau would just as soon not see him.
“I think he’s a really great player,” Boudreau said. “I mean, we’ve seen him twice, and that was enough.”
The Hawks’ issues without Panarin haven’t been tied solely to his absence. Puck possession lagged in a 2- 0 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, and the defensive effort in a 4- 2 loss Thursday to the Dallas Stars was virtually nonexistent in the Stars’ four- goal first period.
“You don’t want to put it on one player,” Quenneville said. “There’s obviously an absence and a void with [ Panarin] not playing, but we’re definitely . . . our pace and our game the last two games wasn’t as high or as good as it has been throughout most of the stretches the last couple of months.”
Quenneville responded with a rare practice on a day off between games. He went to an old favorite drill, too: battle drills.
The Hawks know exactly what it means when Quenneville calls for battle drills: They’re pitted against each other one- on- one, two- on- two and three- on- three in confined areas on the ice.
“We lost a couple games, and it’s not fun,” said Teuvo Teravainen, who hasn’t scored a goal in 16 games. “We’ve got to practice harder to get the wins and get back on track. We need to win the little battles. There’s a lot of little battles in the game, so we’ve got to be tough and win those.”
The first battle will be getting Panarin back. In addition to his obvious talent, Panarin isn’t afraid to mix it up along the boards.
That tenacity has been missed. Quenneville had just hoped it wouldn’t be so obvious.
“Hopefully it’s more of a team thing,” he said. “We appreciate what [ Panarin] brings to our team. He’s got intangibles, as well. We’ll give him credit thatwe missed him, but at the same time it shouldn’t be that noticeable. Those two games, I’m not pinning it on him. We weren’t collectively good enough in a lot of areas.”
NOTE: Rookie defenseman Viktor Svedberg, 24, was recalled from Rockford. Svedberg has a goal and two assists in 16 games with the Hawks this season.