By Chris KucVANCOUVER, British Columbia --Talk about a roller-coaster ride.
Bryan Bickell's last 36 hours would rival any attraction at an amusement park. First the Blackhawks rookie had to be helped to the dressing room after hitting his head on the ice following a collision with the Oilers' Dustin Penner during the first period of the Hawks' 5-2 win Saturday night.
Then Bickell went through a battery of tests to determine if he was fit enough to play Sunday night against the Vancouver Canucks. Once he was cleared, he promptly went out and scored the Hawks' only goal in a 1-0 win to extend their winning streak to seven games.
"I had a little mishap, but I shook it off," Bickell said after Sunday's game. "I went for a hit against Penner and hit him pretty well and then I just hit my head on the ice and that was it and I got carried off. It worked out."
His reward for that kind of toughness? The Hawks reassigned him to Rockford of the AHL this morning.
Bickell's heroics aside, he was reassigned because of the impending return of Marian Hossa, who is expected to make his Hawks debut Wednesday night in San Jose.
Photo: Bryan Bickell celebrates after scoring the only goal in the Blackhawks' 1-0 win Sunday at Vancouver.
Despite playing the second of back-to-back games, the Hawks kept rolling with their third win in as many tries on this six-game road trip. Sunday night's game had some intrigue in that it was the Hawks' first meeting against the Canucks since Willie Mitchell drilled Jonathan Toews on Oct 21 with a hit that sidelined the Hawks center six games with a concussion.
The Hawks stuck to business in the game and didn't force the issue with Mitchell.
"For the most part he got away with it," Hawks winger Dustin Byfuglien said. "Some guys were saying some things. If you have a chance to bury him you have to hit him, right?"
The opportunity didn't arise, but the teams play twice more this season.
As for Byfuglien, he said he didn't get much chance to renew acquaintances with Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo, whom he battled in front of the net during last season's Western Conference semifilans.
"I didn't really get much time to stand in front of him this game," Byfuglien said. "He did a good job. We happened to get a greasy one on him."
Even with the winning streak, Hossa's debut figures to ratchet up the intensity of Wednesday's game against the top two teams in the Western Conference.
"If he's ready he's going to play," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think all systems are go and hopefully that will be it."
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