Whatever it was, the Chicago Blackhawks finally found that extra gear they talked about for days.

Johnny Oduya and Marcus Kruger scored in the third period, Corey Crawford made 20 saves and the Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 in the opener of their second-round playoff series Wednesday night.

“Much better from our prior series,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “I thought what we’re talking about in our team game was in place. Had some pace, had some speed, zone time, and I thought everybody contributed.”

In the wake of Chicago’s five-game victory over Minnesota in the first round, Quenneville talked about a higher level of intensity, and each of his biggest stars echoed his comments. The response was a dominant final two periods in the Blackhawks’ first game in the Western Conference semifinals since they won the Stanley Cup in 2010.

Marian Hossa had the opening goal in the first, and Patrick Sharp finished with an empty-netter and two assists to give him nine points in the postseason.

“I thought it was our best game of the playoffs, no question,” Sharp said.

Jimmy Howard had 38 stops in a terrific performance, but Detroit still lost to rival Chicago for the eighth straight time dating to last season.

“I think in the first it was pretty even, but then I think in the second and third they looked like they had a little more energy than we did,” Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “It’s going to be nice to have a day off tomorrow and practice and then looking forward to Game 2.”

The series resumes on Saturday at the United Center.

The 75th all-time playoff game between the Blackhawks and Red Wings was tied at 1 after two periods, and Howard made a great stop on a breakaway by Dave Bolland 4 1/2 minutes into the third.

Chicago kept working and went in front to stay on a heady play by Oduya. He drifted in from the point and sent Sharp’s pass past Howard on the glove side with 12 minutes left.

“Getting the win is the only thing that actually matters,” Oduya said. “Like I said, anyone could have scored that goal at that point. We had a lot of chances, and I’m lucky I got it in there.”

Kruger then jumped on a loose puck and sent a backhander into the upper right corner to make it 3-1. That was more than enough for Crawford, who caught a break when Damien Brunner’s rebound attempt went off the crossbar and straight down before Brent Seabrook swept it away with about three minutes left.

The opener of the 16th playoff series between the Original Six teams was the first game for Chicago since it eliminated Minnesota last Thursday. Detroit closed out Anaheim with a 3-2 win in Game 7 on Sunday night, taking the final two games of the series against the second-seeded Ducks.

Despite the long break, there was no sign of rust for the Blackhawks. The Red Wings skated right with Chicago at the start, but they couldn’t keep up at the end of the game and coach Mike Babcock said they were looking forward to a day off.

“We’re not trying to take anything away from them,” he said. “They were better than us. The score tonight was more than fair as far as I’m concerned. They were better.”

The Blackhawks struck first in the first playoff game between the teams since Detroit won the 2009 Western Conference final. With Gustav Nyquist in the box for hooking, Sharp forced a turnover along the boards and Jonathan Toews sent the puck to Hossa, who one-timed it past Howard at 9:03.

Detroit needed less than two minutes to respond, tying it when Brunner poked in a rebound for his third career playoff goal. The rookie center also contributed three assists in the first round against the Ducks.

The Blackhawks killed off two power plays created by penalties on Andrew Shaw. They killed off another one when Nick Leddy was sent off for delay of game in the second period, making them a perfect 20 for 20 on the penalty kill in the postseason and sinking Detroit to 1 for 18 on power plays against Chicago, including the regular season.

“We know that we’re a much better team than this,” Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “The second and third period were not nearly good enough. We know we’re better than this, so we have to find to get better here for Game 2.”

Game notes

It was the 800th game between the teams. … Detroit F Justin Abdelkader was shaken up after he collided with Blackhawks D Michal Rozsival in the first period. He was helped to the bench after a few moments down on the ice, but eventually returned to the game. … Blackhawks F Viktor Stalberg was a healthy scratch. Quenneville said it was a “coach’s decision” and Stalberg could get back on the ice at any point. … Toews and Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings joined Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins as finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward. … Chicago won eight of the previous 15 playoff series against Detroit.

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Quenneville led Chicago to a league-best 36-7-5 mark after opening the season by earning a point in each of its first 24 games, setting an NHL record. Quenneville previously won the award in 2000 with St. Louis.

In his first full season in Anaheim, Boudreau led the Ducks to the Pacific Division title and the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Anaheim was third overall in the NHL standings after finishing 25th the previous season. Boudreau previously won the award in 2008 with Washington.

MacLean, a finalist for the second straight year, led Ottawa to the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference while overcoming the prolonged absences of several key players.

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Bergeron, who won last year, was the NHL’s top face-off man this season at 62.1 percent. He ranked sixth overall and led the Bruins in plus-minus with a plus-24 rating and played an average of 2:12 per game with his team short-handed.

“It’s not something I really worry about, to be honest,” Bergeron said Wednesday after the team’s practice at TD Garden as it prepares for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Rangers “It’s a nice honor just to be nominated with these two guys, they’re great players. To be a part of it is great, but at the same time there are a lot more things to worry about. We have a game tomorrow and that’s all I need to focus on right now.”

Bruins coach Claude Julien believes his assistant captain should win his second consecutive Selke Trophy.

“I can tell you right now, I would be extremely disappointed and would’ve been vocal about it had he not been nominated,” Julien said. “This guy here is so good at both ends of the ice, and he keeps proving it year after year. There’s not too many guys in this league that can do what Patrice does.”

Toews, a Selke finalist for the second time, finished third in the NHL in plus-minus with a career-high plus-28 rating and placed second in the NHL in face-off winning percentage with 59.9 percent.

“It’s a good feeling for sure. It’s definitely an honor and something special. You look at the other two players nominated and its an honor to be mentioned in the same sentence as those two guys so pretty cool feeling,” he said.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Toews “had an oustanding year.”

“You can mention him in Hart [Trophy] you can mention him in Selke as well. … Very deserving. We think he did a great job in that area.”

Datsyuk, a three-time winner, tied with Toews for the league lead in takeaways with 56, topped the Red Wings in plus-minus at plus-21 and won 55 percent of faceoffs.

“You see some of the stuff he does and you just can’t believe it,” Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall told The Detroit News.

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“I don’t want to say no, but we’ll see [Monday],” Quenneville said of the two players after Saturday’s practice at Johnny’s IceHouse West.

More On The Blackhawks

For all the latest on the Blackhawks, check out Scott Powers’ blog on ESPNChicago.com. Blog

Forward Viktor Stalberg missed practice Saturday, but he is likely to play on Sunday, according to Quenneville. Stalberg was struck in the face by a puck in the third period of Friday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks and did not return.

Hossa has missed four games since suffering an unspecified upper-body injury against the Colorado Avalanche on March 18. He has 13 goals and 10 assists in 28 games this season.

Sharp has missed nine games since suffering an unspecified upper-body injury, also against the Avalanche, on March 6. He has five goals and 13 assists in 24 games this season.

Hossa and Sharp participated in their first full practice on Saturday. They weren’t allowed contact previously.

“It’s another step in returning,” Sharp said. “I felt fine doing the contact stuff. I’m sure there will be more of that in the next few days and hopefully come back soon.”

Sharp said he was close to returning, but it was important to be completely healthy when he plays again.

“It’s still not 100 percent,” Sharp said. “I think the idea is to come back and have the injury completely behind you not only mentally, but physically more than anything. Just to know I can take hits to the upper body and be fine, so you don’t have to keep tweaking it and addressing it all through playoffs and end of the season.”

Hossa also said he had to be patient in his return despite his desire to be out on the ice helping the team.

“Obviously when the team loses, you feel like you [could] try to help,” Hossa said. “But like I said, you don’t want to rush things with this type of injury because you can get hurt again, and you’ll be more out than you wanted to be.”

The Blackhawks have gone 4-5 without Sharp and 2-3 without Hossa this season. The Blackhawks are 20-0-3 with both players in the lineup this season.

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Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa each scored twice in leading the Blackhawks to an 8-1 rout of the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

Nick Leddy and Patrick Kane each had a goal and two assists as eight Blackhawks scored two or more points and Chicago boosted its road record to 12-1-2 with a dominant win on the second stop of a four-game road trip.

“A great effort all-around by the team,” said Kane, whose 15th goal of the season was a highlight-reel beauty in the third period. “It was a game that we probably needed, since we’ve been in so many close games, to get some guys some confidence scoring some goals. It was good to see a lot of guys step up.”

Corey Crawford made 18 saves for his 13th victory, and Johnny Oduya and Duncan Keith had the Blackhawks’ other goals.

“We had all areas of our game with us, puck possession, playing a sound-game system-wise. Everybody contributed,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said.

The Blackhawks are 2-2-0 since their record 21-0-3 streak to start the season.

Defenseman Trevor Daley scored for the Stars, who have been outscored 16-3 in losing four straight (0-3-1). Three games into a stretch in which the Stars play nine of 11 at home, they have lost all three and are 2-5-1 in their last nine in Dallas.

“If this wasn’t an alarm clock, I don’t know what is,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said.

The return of offensive catalyst Jamie Benn, who missed two games with a wrist injury, wasn’t enough to help the Stars, although he assisted on Dallas’ only goal, feeding Daley for a one-timer on a power play at 6:30 of the third period to spoil Crawford’s shutout bid.

Kari Lehtonen took the loss in goal for Dallas, surrendering four goals on 17 shots before he was pulled midway through the second period. Richard Bachman made 13 saves in relief.

“We dumped on our first goalie and we dumped on our second goalie,” Benn said. “We left them to hang out to dry and it’s unacceptable. We need to do something within this room to change that. It’s an unacceptable effort tonight. These guys gave us a wakeup call tonight.”

Toews struck twice within 1:35 to propel Chicago to a 2-0 lead in the first period and the Blackhawks never looked back.

At 9:05, Toews cruised through the top of the crease and his nifty deflection of Leddy’s slap shot from the left point beat Lehtonen.

His second goal came seconds after he won an offensive zone face-off, and set up in front of the net, where Duncan Keith’s point shot ricocheted off Daley right to him for an easy tap-in into the open side of the net at 10:40.

“I think maybe the fact that we were able to distance ourselves early and not let them back into the game maybe took the wind out of their sails,” said Toews, who has 13 goals. “And as the game went along, the puck just seemed to keep bouncing our way. We worked for our success. I think whether you score eight goals or not, we did what we had to do to win and played a full 60 minutes.”

The Blackhawks extended their lead to 3-0 on Leddy’s third goal of the season at 17:54. Lehtonen stopped Viktor Stalberg’s point-blank shot, but Leddy managed to jam home the rebound.

Chicago continued to control the action in the second, nearly going up by four at 7:30 when a turnover by Dallas rookie defender Brenden Dillon gave Jimmy Hayes an uncontested wrist shot from the slot, but he fired it over the crossbar.

Oduya made it 4-0 at 8:01 when his slap shot from the blue line sailed past a screened Lehtonen, pinged off the left post and dropped in for his second goal in as many games.

That goal prompted Gulutzan to pull Lehtonen in favor of Bachman.

The Blackhawks scored on their first shot against Bachman, taking a 5-0 lead at 12:18 while the clubs were skating four aside, on Hossa’s one-timer from in front off a nifty backhand pass from Kane.

“We were talking about it before the shift,” Hossa said of the play, “and I knew as soon as he went on the right side, he’d throw it in the middle and I tried to just try to find a way to best position myself to score the goal.”

Skating with a 5-on-3 advantage, Chicago struck again with 50.8 seconds left in the period when Hossa launched a blistering snap shot from the right circle that beat Bachman over his glove.

Keith’s second goal of the year, off a wrist shot that glanced off Benn’s stick in front, beat Bachman at 2:06 of the final period.

Two minutes after Daley snapped the shutout in the third period, another Dallas goal was wiped out. Eric Nystrom’s wrist shot found its way over Crawford’s shoulder, but the officials ruled that Vernon Fiddler interfered with Crawford on the play.

“We certainly got humbled,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “We knew they were a good team coming in. We’d like to think we were prepared for it and expected it, but obviously we weren’t. This was deflating for us. We’ve got some work to do.”

Kane made it 8-1 on the ensuing power play with a spin move in the right circle for a backhander that beat Bachman past the glove at 9:59.

Game notes

Daley’s goal snapped an 0-for-10 power play drought for the Stars over the past three games. … After a 2-for-6 showing with the man-advantage, Chicago is 5 for 21 over its last nine contests on the power play. … The Stars honored their general manager, former C Joe Nieuwendyk, as part of their all-time team. Nieuwendyk played in Dallas from 1995-2002, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1999 while helping the Stars earn the franchise’s only Stanley Cup.

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Just like the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago extended its NHL-record season-opening points streak to 22 games Sunday when Kane scored the tying goal on a power play with 2:02 left in regulation and the Blackhawks earned an extra point when the star forward scored the only goal in a shootout of a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

“Just amazing what’s going on,” Kane said.

Corey Crawford was perfect in the shootout and finished with 32 saves to help Chicago win a ninth straight game.

“He had several big saves, particularly right after they scored to go up one,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “He kept us in there to make it a one-goal game and gave us a chance.”

The Blackhawks have earned at least a point in 28 straight games — dating to a March 25, 2012 loss in regulation to Nashville — to tie the second-longest streak in league history. They’ve matched Montreal’s multi-season points run from the 1977-78 season and trail only Philadelphia’s streak of 35 straight games with at least a point during the 1979-80 season.

“It’s impressive,” Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard acknowledged after making 32 saves. “They’re finding different ways to do it every single night.”

It looked like Chicago’s sensational streak of success might end when Detroit’s Tomas Tatar broke a scoreless tie early in the third period and Howard stopped every puck that came his way.

Kane and Crawford had other ideas.

“We keep finding a way to keep ourselves in the game or win it at the end,” Kane said.

The Red Wings hurt their chances by getting called for delay of game twice toward the end of regulation for putting the puck out of play.

Chicago took advantage of the first of two late power plays with forward Viktor Stalberg getting more of the puck than Detroit defenseman Kyle Quincey did, pushing it to Kane to set up a one-timer that made it 1-1.

Kane scored from the bottom of the right circle and pivoted toward the crowd, shouting with joy as he pumped his gloves toward the banner-filled rafters.

“He knew the importance of it to get us to overtime,” Quenneville said.

With a sold-out crowd on its feet for a shootout at the end of an entertaining afternoon of hockey, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk was denied on a low attempt by Crawford’s pads on the first attempt. Jonathan Toews then went high and couldn’t get a shot past Howard’s glove.

Red Wings rookie Damien Brunner made some nifty moves next, but couldn’t keep the puck and for that, Crawford looked thankful as the two met face to face on the ice.

Kane then stole the show, slowly skating toward Howard and lifting his right skate off the ice twice before flipping a wrist shot past him to make the fans at Joe Louis Arena sigh.

“He’s got great skill,” Howard said.

On Detroit’s third attempt in the heart-pounding shootout, Henrik Zetterberg couldn’t extend the game.

“I don’t think we were close to perfect and we almost beat them anyway,” Zetterberg said.

The Red Wings had chances to win in regulation, and in overtime, but Crawford was effective in his return to the net.

Crawford slid to his left to get a piece of Johan Franzen’s shot with 1:40 left in overtime, and the two talked about the play during the subsequent break.

Both teams were inches away from scoring in the final seconds of overtime, with Detroit’s Brendan Smith just missing an opportunity to the left of the net and Kane’s shot squirting past Howard before it trickled just to right of the other net.

The Blackhawks dominated the first period, but Howard — and his teammates — prevented them from scoring on two power plays. The second period was evenly played, then Detroit finally got a shot past Crawford at 2:43 of the third.

Patrick Eaves got to a loose puck behind Chicago’s net, pushed it to Joakim Andersson, whose sharp pass set up Tatar perfectly on the side of the net to beat Crawford.

A bit later, Crawford made a spectacular glove save to deny Datsyuk’s chance that could’ve given the Red Wings a two-goal lead — and perhaps the win in regulation.

Quenneville gave Crawford the start in Detroit after he left his last game Thursday night in St. Louis with an upper-body injury that Quenneville insisted isn’t the same one that forced the goaltender off the ice earlier in the season.

Crawford didn’t get much work early, making just three saves in the first period. He stopped 12 shots in the second — as did Howard — in a fast-pace game filled with end-to-end action and few whistles.

“It was a fun game,” Zetterberg said. “Fans were really into it from the start. These are the games you’re looking forward to play. Unfortunately we couldn’t come up with the win.”

Game notes

The previous record for season-opening points streak was 16 set by the Anaheim Ducks during the 2006-07 season. … Chicago plans to have F Dave Bolland (upper-body injury) back in the lineup Tuesday at home against Minnesota. … Detroit hopes F Valtteri Filppula, out with shoulder injury, can return by next weekend. … Blackhawks F Marian Hossa, a former Red Wing, played in his 1,000th NHL game, a milestone that was recognized by the public address announcer amid a chorus of boos.

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Corey Crawford completed the task to perfection on Sunday night as he made Andrew Shaw’s goal stand up in a 1-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets that stretched the Blackhawks’ NHL-record, season-opening point streak to 18 games.

The Blackhawks are 15-0-3 and show no signs of slowing down.

Crawford earned his seventh NHL shutout and second this season in his first start since Feb. 12. He outdueled Columbus’ Steve Mason, who stopped 26 shots including some sensational point-blank chances.

“I’m seeing the puck well,” Crawford said. “Everyone is doing their job, chipping in. It makes it a lot easier for me.

“Overall I felt good.”

Chicago coach Joel Quenneville thought Crawford (8-0-3) looked just fine in his return, too.

“He was quick,” Quenneville said. “(He was) big, especially on the side-to-side plays on the power play. He tracked the puck well, looked like he wasn’t off for any time at all.

“He had a couple extras days there, got ready. A great response.”

Crawford had been sidelined after he sustained an upper-body injury in a 3-2 shootout loss to Anaheim on Feb. 12. Ray Emery started and won four games in his absence.

Crawford had returned to the lineup as Emery’s backup on Friday when the Blackhawks set the NHL record with at least one point in the first 17 games of a season with a 2-1 win over San Jose. That topped the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks, who started 12-0-4.

Shaw provided all the offense in the second period on Sunday for the Blackhawks, who have earned 33 of 36 possible points.

The Blackhawks also improved to 9-0-3 in games decided by one goal.

“We’re playing the score” Quenneville said. “We’re playing to win. Being on the right side of pucks in a game like today was a good test for us.

“They work hard. It’s the type of game you make sure you don’t try to manufacture things. We took too many penalties, but got better as the game went on.”

Chicago has won nine straight against Columbus, dating to Feb. 18, 2011.

The 18-game point streak is also a team record for the Blackhawks, who have only lost in shootouts this season.

The Blue Jackets (5-12-2), who have an NHL-low 12 points, went 0 for 5 on the power play. Mason kept the game close as he started for the first time in over a week.

He had been on the bench the past three games while Sergei Bobrovsky started.

“I felt good,” Mason said. “I had about a week’s worth of practice to get ready for this game.

“We knew it was going to be a big one with them being the only undefeated team in the NHL. We would have liked to have come in and ended that streak, but that didn’t happen.”

The Blackhawks dominated territorially and in puck possession through the first two periods, but only managed to get one shot past the Blue Jackets goalie.

Both teams had a handful of scoring chances in the first period. Mason made a point-blank pad save on Marian Hossa with 8:30 left, and Crawford stopped Derick Brassard from the slot two minutes later.

Mason denied Hossa on a breakaway 5:30 into the second after Hossa stole the puck from James Wisniewski at the Columbus blue line.

The Blue Jackets failed to convert several close-in attempts during a power-play late in the second, including when Vinny Prospal’s shot hit the crossbar to cap a breakaway.

Shaw finally broke through with 1:27 left in the second from the low edge of the left circle. He took Bryan Bickell’s backhanded feed from the back boards and ripped a high one-timed shot that beat Mason high on the stick side.

“He saw me coming,” Shaw said. “But I wasn’t sure, so I gave him a holler and he put it in a perfect area.”

Mason made a point-blank pad save on Patrick Kane midway through the third period after Kane made a spectacular spin move and cut across the crease alone.

Game notes

The Ducks went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2007. … Blackhawks C Dave Bolland missed the game because of an undisclosed upper-body injury. … Columbus went 1-5 on its six-game road trip. …The Blue Jackets placed D Jack Johnson (upper-body), on the injured list on Sunday. C Brandon Dubinsky (lower body) and C Artem Anisimov (upper body) were also out.

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Blackhawks forward Daniel Carcillo will also play Friday night, according to Quenneville. Carcillo has not played since suffering a lower-body injury in the season opener against the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 19.

Hossa practiced with the team for the second consecutive day Friday since taking the hit from Hansen on Tuesday. Hossa said Friday he passed the team’s protocol for head injuries.

“I should be ready to go,” Hossa said after Friday’s morning skate at the United Center. “I passed the test on the computer, so I should be fine. I feel good otherwise. If I had a little doubt, I wouldn’t go. I wouldn’t play. I wouldn’t practice. Everything is cleared.”

Hansen said he was going for the puck Tuesday at the United Center when his left forearm connected with the back of Hossa’s head early in the third period. Hossa was on the ice face-first for a few minutes before departing to the locker room under his own power. He did not return to the game.

Hossa said he felt shaky after the hit, but he said he did not suffer a concussion. Hansen was suspended one game on Wednesday.

Hossa suffered a severe head injury last season when the Phoenix Coyotes’ Raffi Torres launched himself into Hossa during their first-round playoff series. Hossa was taken off the ice on a stretcher. He did not return for the team’s final three games and was not cleared until early December.

Quenneville said Friday the Blackhawks made sure Hossa was comfortable with playing again right away.

“That’s the first step, I know he’s got to make sure he’s comfortable and we’re comfortable with him playing,” Quenneville said. “We always look at the history, and there’s some hurdles and tests you got to make sure you face and pass. Organizationally, he’s ready to go, and he’s clear.”

Hossa had two goals before being knocked out of Tuesday’s game. He is second on the Blackhawks with eight goals and third with 14 points.

Carcillo had to be helped off the ice after he collided with Kings defenseman Drew Doughty against the boards on Jan. 19. It was Carcillo’s first game since tearing the ACL in his left knee against the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 2, 2012. He required season-ending surgery last season. The latest injury to Carcillo was to his right knee, a source told ESPNChicago.com, and did not require surgery.

Quenneville said he expected Carcillo to continue to play a physical style of hockey and not be concerned about the back-to-back injuries.

“I think the way he plays, the way he has to play, we want to make sure he doesn’t have that thought in the way he approaches the game or goes into shifts,” Quenneville said. “He’s got to play one way, and I think that’s his style. We expect him to do that. I don’t foresee he would have any apprehensions in how he has to play.”

Carcillo played on the team’s first line along with Marian Hossa and Jonathan in the season opener. Quenneville said he expected to use Carcillo on the fourth line with Marcus Kruger and Michael Frolik on Friday.

Carcillo was excited to play again after all he’s been through the past few seasons.

“The last two years have been a tough road for sure,” Carcillo said. “But dealing with the injury last year certainly helped the early onset of this injury. It’s a bit of a shot to your pride because you want to be healthy and you want to be out with the guys. They have been playing so well. It’s a privilege to be able to come here and play this game.”

The 28-year-old Carcillo was signed by the Blackhawks as a free agent in July of 2011. He signed a two-year contract extension in March of 2012. He has 38 goals and 47 assists in 311 career NHL games.

Chicago will try to set a record Friday by opening the season with 17 consecutive games with at least one point.

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“I thought he felt much better today,” Quenneville said. “He said he felt good after practice as well. We’ll see how he is [Friday] and with a chance of playing [Friday] night.”

Hansen’s forearm connected with the back of Hossa’s head while the two players were advancing for a loose puck in the air with 18:55 remaining in the third period of Tuesday’s game. Hossa lay face-first on the ice for a few minutes while being attended to by the Blackhawks medical staff. He eventually left the ice under his own power.

“Obviously he surprised with a hit from behind,” Hossa said Thursday. “He hit me pretty hard in the back of the head. Right after, I was shaky. That’s basically why I didn’t return, because I was shaky. We had the day off, and it kind of slowed down. This morning I woke up and felt much better.”

Hossa said he doesn’t believe he suffered a concussion on the hit.

“No, I don’t believe [I had a concussion] because more than anything he surprised me with a punch from behind,” Hossa said. “I was shaky for a few minutes right after that, which is why I didn’t return to the game.”

Hansen met with the NHL on Wednesday and was given a one-game suspension for the hit.

“It’s up to the league,” Hossa said of the suspension. “They’re making the decisions. But I’m glad at least one game.

Hopefully, more guys learn from it. He said he was reaching for the puck. I didn’t buy it, because when you’re reaching for the puck you don’t hit somebody that hard to the head.”

The Blackhawks did not practice Wednesday, but Hossa was evaluated by the team.

“It was a very encouraging that he felt good [Wednesday], and he responded feeling good during practice and afterwards, which is a big test for us and him,” Quenneville said. “That’s definitely very good news.”

Hossa suffered a head injury last season when Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres launched himself into Hossa during Game 3 of a first-round playoff series. Hossa had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. He missed the Blackhawks’ final three games of the season and was cleared to play again in early December.

“We were all concerned,” Quenneville said of Hossa’s latest collision. “We all saw the situation in the playoffs and you see it again. These things do have a history, so it was definitely a concern.”

Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford and defenseman Brent Seabrook returned to practice Thursday, but goaltender Ray Emery did not participate because of a family commitment. Seabrook will play Friday, and Emery will make his fourth straight start in place of Crawford.

Crawford has missed the Blackhawks’ past three games with an upper-body injury. He is 7-0-3 with a 1.65 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage this season.

Seabrook missed Tuesday’s game against the Canucks because of a lower-body injury. He briefly left Sunday’s game with the Los Angeles Kings after being hit in the groin area by a slap shot.

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Seabrook collapsed on the ice late in the first period Sunday and had to be helped to the locker room after he was struck in the groin area with a slap shot. He returned to the ice at the start of the second period and finished the game. He had one goal and one assist in Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

“Day to day, hopefully we can get him on the ice the next day or so,” Quenneville said of Seabrook after Tuesday morning’s skate at the United Center.

Seabrook, who along with Duncan Keith has comprised the team’s top defensive pairing, is second on the team with 23:32 of average ice time. He also has two goals, six assists and a plus/minus rating of plus-3.

Quenneville said he was unlikely to break up the team’s second defensive pairing of Johnny Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson, who have combined for a plus-18.

Nick Leddy, Sheldon Brookbank or Michal Rozsival will likely replace Seabrook on the top defensive pairing against the Canucks on Tuesday night.

Goaltender Corey Crawford, meanwhile, resumed skating but will miss his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury.

“Corey skated prior to practice, did well, so we’ll get him out there again tomorrow,” Quenneville said. “Hopefully, he keeps progressing here.”

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