Hawks’ backup goalie battle down to the wire

Part of goalie Ray Emery is looking at his opportunity to play a full game tonight against Pittsburgh at the United Center as make or break in his battle with rookie Alexander Salak to be Corey Crawford’s backup.

“That’s all that I have guaranteed, is that game in the position I’m in right now.” Emery said. “I have to the most I can with it to help the team have a strong effort. It’s part of the process as well. If all goes well it’s the next step in preparing for the season.”

Salak played his full game Sunday at Detroit and was solid in a 4-3 loss in a shootout. Emery and Salak have split two games.

“I’m excited to get a game against a more full lineup and a good team coming in here,” Emery said. “I want to prove myself and win a spot. I just want to control the things I can control.”

The competition between Emery and Salak is considered still too lose to call, although Emery’s experience is certainly in his favor.

“We’ve watched them daily here,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Organizationally we’ll have that decision to make, but we like what (Emery) brings and what he’s capable of doing. He’s got some experience as well, so we’ll see.”

Setback for Stalberg:Left wing Viktor Stalberg, who was having a very good training camp, will be out at least three weeks with a leg injury suffered in an apparent knee-to-knee collision with one of the Red Wings on Wednesday.Joel Quenneville didn#146;t sound too happy with how the injury occurred.#147;It looked like it might have been a collision, but it looked like it could have been more than a collision. I#146;ll leave it at that,#148; Quenneville said. #147;He had a great camp, he really did.#148;Tweet it out:Patrick Kane started his own Twitter account on Wednesday @88pkane and had attracted more than 22,000 followers in the first 24 hours.#147;I think I can do pretty good at it and try to connect with the fans and different people,#148; Kane said. #147;Hopefully I#146;ll have some fun with it. I#146;m not really sure what I#146;m doing now, but hopefully I#146;ll learn fast. I#146;ll try it out and see how it goes.#148;Joel Quenneville said Kane would play center again tonight against the Penguins on a line with Marian Hossa and Andrew Brunette.#147;That line, watching them in practice, they#146;ve got something going here as far as seeing plays, making plays, patience with the puck,#148; Quenneville said. #147;Kaner and Hoss have it a lot, which is good.#148;Tip-ins:Dave Bolland didn#146;t practice Thursday because of an upper body injury Joel Quenneville said was unrelated to the concussion he suffered last season. ... Patrick Sharp skated by himself for a fifth straight day and is likely to return to practice today. ... Daniel Carcillo was back at practice after being sick for three days. ... Rob Klinkhammer was assigned to Rockford.