Andrew Desjardins returns to Blackhawks lineup vs. Blues

Andrew Desjardins will return to the lineup and Corey Crawford will start in net when the Blackhawks face the St. Louis Blues Wednesday night at Scottrade Center.

Desjardins was skating on the fourth line with Dennis Rasmussen (back at center) and Jordin Tootoo. Desjardins was originally expected to play on Sunday when the Blackhawks hosted the Dallas Stars but coach Joel Quenneville, considering the winning streak, didn’t want to change the lineup.

“You always respect the coach’s decision. You don’t want to read between the lines, but I knew the situation. You want to roll that momentum, and I think that was probably just one of those cases where team’s playing well, why change it up?” said Desjardins. “I’m just excited to get back out there. Obviously, the team’s playing well right now, so I just want to do my part and get the jobs done that I’m supposed to do.”

[SHOP: Gear up, Blackhawks fans!]

Jonathan Toews appeared to tweak something in his left leg during Wednesday morning’s skate. But he finished the skate and afterward said, “all good.”

The Blackhawks have won six in a row. Quenneville said a lot of that still stems from the Blackhawks’ goaltending — Crawford and Scott Darling have been outstanding. But top guys producing more lately also helps.

“Their big dogs bite. Their sense of timing goes with winning, goes with character, goes with competitive level. they know the timing of the game,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “The game looks like it’s tilted the wrong way against Dallas [and] in Chicago and 19 [Toews] and 88 [Patrick Kane] step up and do their job. That’s what you need in this league.”