Joel Quenneville plans to keep Marian Hossa, other vets fresh

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Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa has scored 22 goals this season, but has just one in his last 11 games. Hossa returned Tuesday after missing two games with a lower-body injury. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Forward Marian Hossa returned Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks after missing the Blackhawks’ previous two games with a lower-body injury. But he probably hasn’t had his last day off this season.

With the Hawks holding the best record in the Western Conference and a seven-point lead over the Minnesota Wild for the division lead entering Tuesday night’s game, coach Joel Quenneville said he’ll be cognizant of keeping Hossa, 38, fresh for the playoffs.

“And a lot of our guys,” Quenneville added. “That’s something we can look at. We have [nine games] to go [in the regular season], and want to make sure we’re fresh. At the same time, we want to be competitive. If we have a chance to back off a little bit, that’ll be dictated by the score, the time of the game. But our older guys . . . we play every other day going forward, so practices will probably be more [like] game-day skates.”

Hossa, who scored 10 of his 22 goals in a 12-game stretch in October and November, had just one in his last 11 games before Tuesday, when he scored on a power play at 5:48 of the third period. He also assisted on Ryan Hartman’s power-play goal in the second.

Quenneville already is being careful with defenseman Johnny Oduya, who missed 15 games with an ankle injury before being acquired from the Dallas Stars at the trade deadline. Oduya returned to the lineup Tuesday after being rested against the Colorado Avalanche — the second time since joining the Hawks that he didn’t play the second of back-to-back games.

Line dancing

Quenneville still is hoping to fortify the fourth line, which has produced one goal in the last eight games — Marcus Kruger and Jordin Tootoo assisting on defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk’s goal against the Wild on March 12.

“Our four-line rotation in the last little while hasn’t been as good as it was for a big stretch of time,” Quenneville said. “Having that continued pace is what makes us better.”

Dennis Rasmussen, an early scratch in eight of the previous 11 games after playing in 57 of 60 games, was reinserted into the lineup on the fourth line with Tanner Kero and Tomas Jurco. Tootoo and Andrew Desjardins were scratched.

Early clincher

The Hawks clinched a playoff spot in their 72nd game when they rallied to beat the Avalanche 6-3 on Sunday. That’s the earliest they’ve clinched a playoff spot in an 82-game season in Quenneville’s nine years as coach. The previous best was the 74th game in 2010, when they won their first Stanley Cup in 49 years. 

Streaking

The Hawks, who made the playoffs just once in 10 years from 1997-98 to 2007-08, have made the playoffs the last nine seasons. With the imminent end of the Detroit Red Wings’ 25-year streak, that will be the second-longest playoff streak in the NHL. The Pittsburgh Penguins are closing in on their 11th consecutive playoff berth.

Follow me on Twitter@MarkPotash.

Email: mpotash@suntimes.com

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