Seabrook no longer Hawks’ ironman

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Even though he didn’t play Saturday night – actually, because he didn’t play – Brent Seabrook suffered a loss despite the victory by his Blackhawks.

Seabrook had played in the team’s previous 223 regular-season games dating to the first half of the 2006-07 season. It was the longest streak by any Hawks player and the third longest among NHL defensemen.

As is custom in the NHL, the Hawks wouldn’t say why Seabrook and team captain Jonathan Toews didn’t play in the 2-0 win against Nashville, but it’s believed both suffered concussions during Wednesday’s loss to Vancouver.

With Seabrook’s streak broken, left wing Andrew Ladd is the Hawks’ new ironman. And Ladd celebrated his 112th consecutive game with the team by scoring his second goal of the season. Ladd, acquired from Carolina on Feb. 26, 2008, has a 133-game streak with the two teams.

“That’s good because my first three years, up to the point [the streak] started, I was pretty much getting hurt every month,” Ladd said. “So it’s been nice to play in a lot of games. Hopefully – knock on wood – it continues.”

The Hawk with the longest run without missing a regular-season game actually is defenseman Brian Campbell, who brought a 238-game streak with him when he signed as a free agent before last season. Campbell has played in 330 consecutive games with the Hawks, San Jose and Buffalo.

Improved depth: When Toews missed 16 consecutive games as a rookie beginning Jan. 1, 2008, the Hawks went 5-9-2 – a costly stretch for a team that missed the playoffs by three points. So it’s a good sign that they were able to win Saturday without perhaps their best all-around player.

Nice guys: The Hawks spent eight minutes in the penalty box and the Predators six. That was below the averages for the NHL’s two least-penalized teams.

Rockford shuttle: The Hawks called up center Jake Dowell from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs.

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