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Huet back with Blackhawks after a bout with the flu

GLENDALE, Calif. - With only two more sets of back-to-back games left in the season it will be interesting to see when Cristobal Huet plays again.

Huet is back with the team after a bout with the flu, but it was Antti Niemi starting in goal again Saturday against the Coyotes for the 10th time in the last 14 games.

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman maintains, as he did at the trade deadline, that he has all the confidence in the world in Niemi and Huet for the playoffs.

"Like I've said, we don't focus on the goaltending here," Bowman said. "It's a team game and there's a lot of aspects to winning a game. Goaltending is one of them - it's a very important part of it, but you can't only have goaltending. You've also got to score goals, you've got to defend; you've got to have good special teams.

"It's not one thing that wins and loses games for you. Maybe that gets a lot of the focus, but at the same time there's been a lot of things that we've got to get better at."

Huet missed games at Anaheim and Los Angeles with a high fever and headache.

"The last couple days his energy is returning," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "But it taxes you. I'm sure every day he's getting stronger and stronger."

Huet dressed as the backup Saturday.

Seabrook sits: Brent Seabrook missed his second straight game as a result of the hit to the head he received from Anaheim's James Wisniewski last Wednesday.

Seabrook likely will return at some point this week.

"The (concussion) symptoms have been going away pretty quickly, I guess," Seabrook said.

Good planning: The rash of injuries the Hawks have suffered on defense is why Stan Bowman went out and traded for Nick Boynton and Danny Richmond before the deadline and signed Jassen Cullimore as a free agent.

"We talked about probably having to use up to eight or nine defenseman down the stretch," Bowman said. "At the time we were healthy we had seven D-men and we knew we'd probably need a couple more.

"That's what went into this. It's nice to know we have guys who can play in the league and have experience playing and can step right in and help out."

Full building: The Coyotes still are last in the NHL in attendance, averaging fewer than 12,000 a game, but Saturday was a total sellout with the Hawks and their thousands of fans in town.

"Every single athlete, I've said it a few times, has a pretty good-sized ego, so we enjoy playing in front of a full crowd and enjoy having the fans there," Coyotes captain Shane Doan told the Arizona Republic.