CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks are on a roll coming into their home opener Tuesday at United Center against the St. Louis Blues.

They also have a trend going in their favor in this heated Central Division rivalry, at least on paper.

Dating to Feb. 3, 2010, the Blues (2-0-0) -- who are tied with the Blackhawks (2-0-0) atop the Central with four points -- are winless in Chicago. The team will have its annual red-carpet arrival event prior to the game for fans to cheer the Hawks players and celebrate the start of a new home slate, but Blues coach Ken Hitchcock knows his team won't be afforded the same hospitality.

"We usually get our [butts] kicked in this building," Hitchcock said following the team's optional morning practice.

St. Louis is winless in seven straight and is just 1-5-4 in its last 10 visits to United Center. Asked about their run of success at home against the Blues, the Blackhawks didn't think it mattered too much.

In fact, those asked about it didn't even know how long it had been since the Blues had won a game at United Center -- Feb. 3, 2010.

"I didn't even really pay attention to that, to be honest," Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith told NHL.com. "Every game against St. Louis is a tough game. They've got a lot of guys who compete hard over there and we're excited about the challenge. You have to play a good game against them, a patient game."

Chicago forward Patrick Kane, who had a goal and added three assists in the Hawks' first two games, thinks the matchup game might play into the lopsided numbers in his team's favor on home ice.

"[The Blues] are very tough to play in their own building and sometimes when you get them here, you get your own matchups and feed off the crowd a little bit," Kane said. "Usually in those games there's a lot of intensity and you can really use that to your advantage. I think tonight's going to be more of the same tonight."

Hitchcock agreed and expected his team to get another good early-season test, one night after a shootout victory in Nashville that he compared to a playoff game in terms of intensity.

"We just want to play well," Hitchcock said when asked about St. Louis' struggles in the Windy City the past few years. "Where Chicago tests you is … defensively. They test your composure under fire. You're not going to get away with giving up double-digit scoring chances. They're just too good. You're going to have to figure out a way to negate those as much as possible, and that's the challenge. Our challenge is to see what we can take away and make them uncomfortable."

Here's a look at how the Blackhawks likely will line up:

Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa

Patrick Sharp - Dave Bolland - Patrick Kane

Bryan Bickell - Andrew Shaw - Viktor Stalberg

Brandon Bollig - Marcus Kruger - Michael Frolik

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook

Johnny Oduya - Niklas Hjalmarsson

Nick Leddy - Michal Rozsival

Corey Crawford

Ray Emery

Injured: Daniel Carcillo, Steve Montador

Scratched: Sheldon Brookbank, Jamal Mayers

Lineup notes: Crawford will get the start in net, according to Chicago coach Joel Quenneville. The Hawks did not skate forward lines Tuesday, so it's possible Quenneville might opt to make some minor tweaks against the physically-imposing Blues. Possible changes could include swapping scrappy veteran -- and former Blues player -- Jamal Mayers for fourth-line center Marcus Kruger. Chicago, however, has been pleased with Kruger's play thus far at that spot.

CHICAGO -- After hearing the term "severe injury" used about Marian Hossa in the League's explanation video about the 25-game suspension for an illegal hit by Raffi Torres, there was cause to wonder if the injury could be long-term -- maybe even stretching into next season.

The 33-year old Hossa, a star forward for the Chicago Blackhawks, missed the final three games of their Western Conference Quarterfinal series against the Phoenix Coyotes because of an undisclosed upper-body injury after Torres clipped his head with his shoulder and sent him to the hospital. Hossa, who led the Hawks in scoring with 77 points (29 goals and 48 assists), left the hospital that night under his own power after being taken off the ice on a stretcher.

Chicago general manager Stan Bowman, however, said on Wednesday that he doesn't think Hossa's injury will linger into next season.

"[We're] very optimistic that he's going to be back," Bowman said. "We're here in April and training camp doesn't open until September. That's a lot of time to be rested and prepared and training in the offseason. So, we don't approach that any differently than a different injury."

Hossa briefly made an appearance at United Center on Wednesday during the team's locker clearout/player evaluation meetings, but didn't speak with reporters. As for his injury, it's starting to sound similar to other concussion-related issues that plagued several Blackhawks players -- including captain Jonathan Toews, who missed the last 22 games of the regular season before returning for the playoff series.

"We've had a lot of similar-type injuries with players in the past and it's too hard to predict a recovery time on these things," Bowman said. "There's no reason to think [Hossa is] any different than any other player that has that type of injury."

Toews, meanwhile, declined an invitation to play for Canada at the upcoming IIHF World Championships primarily because he doesn't want to risk a relapse of his concussion.

"I think for now the smart play is just to rest and make sure everything's clear and it's behind me," Toews said. "Obviously, I'd like to go represent Canada every chance I get, but right now it's not the smartest thing to do."

If Hossa is having similar injury issues as Toews, then his advice would be not to push returning to hockey-related activities too quickly and be honest with himself and doctors about how he's feeling.

Toews said he played "a handful" of games before speaking up about how he was feeling, which he said won't happen again should he feel that way again in the future.

"I think it's something I still need to look into to make sure it's a problem that I've dealt with and it's gone and it's not going to come back," Toews said. "It was definitely a learning experience going through two months being away from the guys and out of the locker room and having to deal with that sort of thing. It's not something I want to go through again, but I'll definitely be smarter about it next time."

CHICAGO -- Andrew Brunette signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks last summer for one main reason.

The 38-year old forward wanted to be part of a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and saw the young core group of stars in Chicago as his best opportunity. As it turned out, it was a frustrating season for Brunette and the Blackhawks, who were bounced from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in six games by the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

Brunette, who hurt his right foot blocking a shot late in the season and played through the pain in the postseason, doesn't foresee the Blackhawks bringing him back, and the 16-year NHL veteran is contemplating retirement.

"I think they're going to go in a different direction, so I'm not going to be holding my breath thinking that they're going to call or hanging around by the phone," Brunette told reporters during Chicago's locker clean-out/player meetings day at United Center. "I haven't really thought about [the future]. It takes a few days to decompress and think about, kind of what happened and kind of re-assess when the mind clears and you're able to come up for air a little bit. We'll see as we go along."

Asked later about whether he was considering retirement, Brunette admitted it could be a possibility.

"It was a tough year and you don't want to leave this way, but there's times when the game tells you to leave and you don't have a decision," Brunette, who finished with 12 goals and 15 assists in 78 games, said. "We'll see. I'm not sure. I'm going to let it decompress, come up for air and make some kind of decision."

Brunette has 268 goals and 465 assists in 1,110 games with six different teams.

CHICAGO -- Shane Doan grabbed a scoresheet following Game 4 of a Western Conference Quarterfinal series and smiled.

After looking at the 'blocked shot' category for his Phoenix Coyotes, he held up a hand for a high five from defenseman Keith Yandle -- after informing his teammate they'd combined to stop 10 Chicago Blackhawks shots from even getting to goalie Mike Smith.

It was a good snapshot of the Coyotes' entire series against the Hawks, who've outshot them by a wide margin and still trail 3-2 after the previous five games were all decided in overtime.

"We talk all the time about [how] we have to do whatever it takes to win," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "And [we say] if the other team is shooting the puck a lot, we'd better be in the lanes as much as we can."

Mission accomplished on that front, so far.

Heading into Monday night's Game 6 at United Center, Phoenix has blocked 109 of Chicago's shots -- which ranks fourth most in the playoffs and is the most of any Western Conference team so far. Conversely, the Blackhawks have blocked just 53 shots -- but also faced far fewer pucks shot toward them.

Chicago is second overall in shots and first in the West with 202, while the Coyotes have launched just 139 shots at Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford -- the second-lowest amount among Western Conference teams, ahead of just Nashville.

That includes just 19 shots total in each of the past two games -- an overtime win in Game 4 followed by an OT loss in Game 5 at home Saturday night. The Coyotes might look to pick up the tempo at least a little bit for Game 6, as their offensive numbers in those last two games were even difficult for them to see.

"I think the whole game we played too conservatively," Yandle said of the Game 5 loss. "I don't know if we expected them to give us a win or it just to be handed to us, but I think the whole game we were a little behind the eight ball and I think tonight we've just got to push the pace a little more and forget about last game."

As long as they don't forget about getting in the shooting lanes defensively and sacrificing their bodies to stop shots, Tippett will be OK with that rationale.

"[Coyotes development coach] Dave King has a great saying and it's, 'Loose pucks and ice bags,' and if we didn't have ice bags on after the game we didn't play hard enough," Tippett said after the Coyotes morning skate. "That includes blocking shots."

CHICAGO -- There is no shortage of motivations to pick from in this Western Conference Quarterfinal series for the Chicago Blackhawks.

There's the spot they put themselves, getting down 3-1 in the series and trying to overcome the odds of being eliminated when they face the Phoenix Coyotes on Monday in Game 6 (9 p.m. ET, CNBC, TSN).

There's last season's first-round exit in overtime of Game 7 in Vancouver that's still a bitter memory. And then there's star teammate Marian Hossa, who will miss his third straight game with an upper-body injury.

Hossa, who was taken off the ice on a stretcher in Game 3 after an illegal hit by now-suspended Phoenix forward Raffi Torres, visited his teammates Monday for the first time since the incident happened.

Apparently, just seeing Hossa's face was all the motivation some players needed.

"He's our teammate and me ... I'm close with him," forward Michael Frolik said. "He's from Slovakia, so we are close friends. When it happened, we said in the room, 'We have to play for him,' and you don't want to see things like that. It maybe gets us closer and ... for sure, we're trying to win for him."

Viktor Stalberg took it a step further by saying the Hawks also want to win the series just to extend the playoffs and see if Hossa possibly could return from his injury to play again.

"You never want to see a guy go down like that," Stalberg said. "We'd certainly like to have him in the lineup. He's been our best player all season long. It definitely hurts us, but hopefully he's getting better and you never know, we might get him back at some point if we keep progressing. I think that's the ultimate goal ... to get him a chance to get back here."

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said there is no news to report as far as Hossa's injury condition, but believed just getting back around the team was a positive for all parties.

While Hossa won't be returning anytime soon, Chicago will get rookie forward Andrew Shaw back for Game 6 after he served a three-game suspension for running into Phoenix goalie Mike Smith behind the net in Game 2.

Shaw said he doesn't think the incident will change the intensity that allows him to overcome a perceived size disadvantage to be a pest for opponents at both ends of the ice.

"I'm just going to play my game and not change a thing," Shaw said. "Those things happen once in a while. Accidents do happen, but I'm just going to stick to my game and do the best that I can do."

He's also thrilled to get what he called a "second chance at the playoffs" after watching the Hawks win Game 5 in Phoenix in overtime -- which gave him the opportunity to get back in his first postseason series.

"I'm so excited," Shaw said. "When [Toews] scored there in overtime, I was hooting and hollering all around the [locker room], just excited to get another chance to play in the playoffs."

CHICAGO -- Here is a look at how the Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks might line up on Monday night at United Center for Game 6 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal series.

Chicago will get rookie Andrew Shaw back from a three-game suspension and Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said he will draw into the lineup somewhere. However, at the morning skate Shaw wasn't among the top four lines and skated instead with Brandon Bollig and Jamal Mayers -- who are expected to be healthy scratches again.

Phoenix center Martin Hanzal, who's missed the last three games of the series with a lower-body injury, skated in the morning and will be a game-time decision for Coyotes coach Dave Tippett. Phoenix leads the series 3-2 and is looking to win the franchise's first Stanley Cup Playoffs series since 1987.

COYOTES
Ray Whitney - Daymond Langkow - Radim Vrbata
Lauri Korpikoski - Antoine Vermette - Shane Doan
Marc-Antoine Pouliot - Kyle Chipchura - Gilbert Brule
Mikkel Boedker - Boyd Gordon - Taylor Pyatt

Keith Yandle - Derek Morris
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Michal Rozsival
Rostislav Klesla - Adrian Aucoin

Mike Smith
Jason LaBarbera

BLACKHAWKS
Bryan Bickell - Jonathan Toews - Viktor Stalberg
Patrick Sharp - Patrick Kane - Andrew Shaw
Brendan Morrison - Dave Bolland - Michael Frolik
Andrew Brunette - Marcus Kruger - Jimmy Hayes

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Nick Leddy - Johnny Oduya
Niklas Hjalmarsson - Sean O'Donnell

Corey Crawford
Ray Emery

CHICAGO -- Could the Chicago Blackhawks make the switch to Ray Emery in goal for Game 5 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal series in Phoenix on Saturday night?

"We're talking about that," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said on Friday, shortly before he and his team departed for Phoenix. "We'll talk about our scenario, but I don't forsee making any announcements [before the game]."

Corey Crawford has started each of the first four games and lost three of them in overtime -- including a pivotal Game 4 at United Center 3-2 on Thursday night. Mikkel Boedker, in fact, beat Crawford in overtime in successive games for the Phoenix Coyotes -- who are on the brink of clinching the franchise's first Stanley Cup Playoffs series in 25 years.

Crawford got the majority of starts in the regular season, but lost the starting job for a couple of six-game stretches with some inconsistent play. Boedker's goal in OT, scored off a partial breakaway by stuffing the puck through the pads, was the only one of the three Crawford allowed that he had a chance to stop.

It just happened to come at the worst time of the game and gave the Coyotes a huge victory. Regardless, the Hawks say they're fine with either Crawford or Emery in net -- and they don't think Crawford should be hanging his head because of the OT losses.

"Goaltending is a position that seems to take most of the responsibility, especially in losing efforts," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "But really, what you don't notice is those little efforts that he does on every play, every shift, and those stops that he's making to keep us in these tight games. Maybe he deserves a little more credit for that. So, we're standing behind him. He's worked as hard, if not harder, than anybody in this series. He deserves our full support, [and] we need to be better and more supportive in front of him."

Defenseman Duncan Keith had similar sentiments.

"Goaltending is a position somewhat like defensemen, who are the last line of defense," Keith said. "Well, the goaltender is the very last line of defense. They can be a hero one day and a goat the next day. Corey's played great all year long, and played great for us in the playoffs last year. He had his best game in the playoffs last year in Game 7 [against Vancouver], when we were facing elimination, so we've got a lot of confidence in him and in both of our goalies."

CHICAGO -- Marian Hossa did not travel with his Chicago Blackhawks teammates for Saturday's Game 5 of a Western Conference Quarterfinal series they trail 3-1 to the Phoenix Coyotes.

Hossa, who was knocked out of Game 3 in Chicago on Tuesday night by a hit from Raffi Torres, also missed Thursday night's Game 4 at United Center with what the team is calling an upper-body injury.

Hossa, who was Chicago's leader in points this season, apparently hasn't improved since he was released from the Northwestern Memorial Hospital late Tuesday night.

"He's the same [as he was on Thursday]," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

Torres was suspended indefinitely for the hit pending an in-person hearing at the League offices in New York on Friday afternoon.

CHICAGO -- Injuries to key players for both the Chicago Blackhawks and Phoenix Coyotes have forced coaches Joel Quenneville and Dave Tippett to mix and match their forward lines for Thursday night's Game 4 of a Western Conference Quarterfinal series at the United Center.

They're likely to call on some new faces who just recently arrived from the minors, as well -- or junior hockey in the case of Chicago's Brandon Saad, who could find himself playing a role in the Blackhawks' top six group in place of injured Marian Hossa.

Here is a look at how both teams could line up when they take the ice at the Madhouse on Madison. Some of it, however, is just guesswork because neither team skated their forward line combinations during the morning skate sessions.

COYOTES
Ray Whitney - Antoine Vermette - Radim Vrbata
Marc-Antoine Pouliot - Daymond Langkow - Shane Doan
Taylor Pyatt - Boyd Gordon - Mikkel Boedker
Paul Bisonnette - Gilbert Brule - Kyle Chipchura

Keith Yandle - Derek Morris
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Adrian Aucoin
Rostislav Klesla - Michal Rozsival

Mike Smith
Jason LaBarbera

BLACKHAWKS
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Viktor Stalberg
Patrick Sharp - Marcus Kruger - Patrick Kane
Bryan Bickell - Dave Bolland - Michael Frolik
Andrew Brunette - Jamal Mayers - Brandon Bllig

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Nick Leddy - Johnny Oduya
Niklas Hjalmarsson - Sean O'Donnell

Corey Crawford
Ray Emery

CHICAGO -- The Phoenix Coyotes will again be without two key forwards on Tuesday night at the United Center for Game 4 of a Western Conference Quarterfinal series.

Center Martin Hanzal and forward Lauri Korpikoski will both miss their second straight game with undisclosed injuries -- meaning the Coyotes will again have to rely on their depth in an effort to extend their 2-1 lead in the series.

Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said the way the series has played out has confirmed his gut feeling that Phoenix has enough depth to last for a deeper run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"You hope you have that depth," Tippett said. "You don't know what you have until it actually gets thrown in there, so we're certainly getting tested right now. We've got some players that just finished up in Portland [of the Western Hockey League] and are with us now. They've been up and down a couple times this year throughout injuries, so hopefully that experience they got with our team will benfit us."

Phoenix just recently called up centers Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Alexandre Bolduc prior to Game 3 on Tuesday, so one or both could draw into the Coyotes' lineup somewhere. If they do, Tippett said he's comfortable with the kind of effort his team will get.

"They recognize this is going to be a very intense game," Tippett said. "Every play in the game is going to count and we expect them to jump in and do the job for us."

Hanzal (lower body) said he's feeling better and participated in the morning skate. He initially told reporters that he'd be a game-time decision, but Tippett pronounced him out not long afterward. Korpikoski (upper body) did not skate.