Havlat ineffective in return

With the Blackhawks staggering and in desperate need of offense, Martin Havlat returned to the lineup Sunday night from his groin injury a bit ahead of schedule.

But with Havlat looking out of sync and going without a shot on goal, the Hawks' offense wasn't very dangerous again in a 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

"He looked good," said Hawks coach Denis Savard. "It's a tough thing to ask a player to come back with the fact we haven't practiced much lately."

The decision to play was made by Havlat and Savard not long before faceoff.

"I just want to play hockey again and help the team," Havlat said.

Havlat played 19 minutes, including the first minute of the game when he and linemates Robert Lang and Troy Brouwer were beaten back down the ice and Henrik Zetterberg scored at the 50-second mark.

"We started with a bad first shift," Havlat said. "We made a mistake and it was 1-0. You can't make mistakes like that."

While Havlat returned from his less serious groin injury, Jason Williams remained out indefinitely.

"He had a setback, so I have no idea," Savard said of when Williams might play again.

Brent Sopel isn't close to returning from his broken finger either, and Ben Eager's concussion could be more serious than first thought.

"Ben's still having headaches, so we'll take our time with him, too," Savard said.

Packing them in: Sunday's crowd of 21,869 was the Hawks' third straight sellout, their fourth in a row over 20,000 and second straight of more than 21,000.

"It's great to see full houses again," said Red Wings defenseman and former Hawk Chris Chelios. "It's tremendous to see this team doing well again with all their young stars. It's such a good sports market."

Wednesday figures to be an attendance test for the Hawks when they play a midweek, non-holiday-break game against Dallas.

Safe at home: General manager Dale Tallon returned from Prague on Sunday after scouting the World Junior Championships.

Tallon came away impressed with three Hawks draft picks: Winger Bill Sweatt and goalie Joseph Palmer of the U.S., and center Tony Lagerstrom of Sweden, which lost to Canada in overtime in the gold medal game.

With the Hawks sliding down in the standings and perhaps headed for another high draft pick, Tallon also got to see most of the top players eligible for the June draft.

Tip-ins: Defensemen Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith played just under 31 minutes each. ... With the victory, Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood improved to 19-2-1 for the season. ... It was Detroit's first win over the Hawks in five meetings. ... Sunday began a stretch of five games in eight nights for the Hawks. ... Jack Skille, David Koci and Magnus Johansson were healthy scratches.