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“Whatever happens out there, happens out there,” says Torres on facing Blackhawks

Marian Hossa, Raffi Torres

CORRECTS HOSSA FROM SLOVAKIA, NOT RUSSIA - Chicago Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa (81) of Slovakia, falls down after taking a hit from Phoenix Coyotes’ Raffi Torres (37) during the first period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Chicago, Tuesday, April 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

AP

The last time Raffi Torres faced the Blackhawks, he became Chicago’s “Public Enemy No. 1" for, in the NHL’s words, “launching himself to deliver a late hit to the head” of Marian Hossa.

Torres received a 25-game suspension (later reduced to 21 games) for the play and has since promised to change his ways.

Tomorrow at Jobing.com Arena, he’ll share the ice with Hossa -- who was badly concussed as a result of the hit -- and the Blackhawks for the first since the Apr. 17 incident.

So, does Torres expect Chicago to pay him any special attention?

“Whatever happens out there, happens out there,” he told reporters today, per the Chicago Tribune. “I’m sure they just want to go out there and pick up the ‘W.’ It’s a good test for us. We got a good team coming in here, the best team in the league right now I think.”

And what about the commitment he made to clean up his act? How’s that going?

“We have to protect the top players in the league,” he said. “If it’s going to take me thinking out there instead of running around with my head cut off, then that’s what it’s going to take. If I want to keep playing in this league, I’m going to have to change the way [I play].”

Hossa, meanwhile, is downplaying tomorrow’s game.

“I don’t care,” he said Tuesday, per ESPNChicago.com. “It’s a thing you don’t forget. Like I said, you know I move the page, and it’s another season. I just try to focus on my game.

“It’s just another game. ... I think it’s going to be a normal game. I don’t expect anything.”