nossagog

By Chris Kuc
Tribune staff reporter

December 4, 2007, 8:44 PM CST


A strong start that has produced a 14-10-2 record is not good enough for Blackhawks coach Denis Savard, who wants his team to put its collective foot on the pedal and create some separation in the Central Division and Western Conference as a whole.

"We have to step out of our comfort zone as individuals for us to take it to another level," Savard said. "Individually, players feel like they've done a good job, but you have to do a better job. There's still another notch in your game. Some nights it's going to be ugly. We're going to have to get more cuts on our faces. That's what getting out of your comfort zone is."
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Off to a good start and 9 of 11 games at home in December. That's cool, they could come into the new year in really good shape in the division.

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Penguins Fan living in Sabreland

underslept

Definitely going to be tough to "pull away" in the Central Division. Unless one of the other teams in the division starts tanking, I don't see them "pulling ahead" too far, if at all. They may pull up one some teams in the Western Conference and some in the Eastern Conference, but for the most part the Hawks can beat Detroit, they've struggled with St. Louis, Columbus, and Nashville, so I don't see them pulling away any time soon (barring something completely unpredictable, of course).

nossagog

Yeah, I think the conference standings are most telling at this point. Sorry, they're not going to win the division, but in the conference, this is their chance to put a little seperation in there with quite a few home games. They're only 4 points from Dallas with the second most points in the conference, but then again they're only 4 points from Calgary and the 13th most on the other end. So having a good December with all the home games is crucial, don't want to waste those.

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Penguins Fan living in Sabreland