Rookie Hendry has caught Savard's eye

When James Wisniewski returns from the injury list and takes his place back on defense, the Blackhawks could have a tough decision to make.

Rookie Jordan Hendry played well in his first three games since being recalled from Rockford and might be making it difficult for the Hawks to send him back.

"He skates well," Savard said. "I like the fact he's a good skater and keeps it simple. He can skate and recover, and now it's just experience. He's going to gain more experience as he goes along and the more games he plays the better he's going to get."

Savard spent time on Tuesday going over video with Hendry, most of it from Sunday's win at Nashville when he played almost 20 minutes.

"He was on it a lot for some good stuff and also for some stuff that he needs to learn, like how we break out of our end and our defensive zone coverage," Savard said.

Hendry was signed as a free agent in March 2006.

Wisniewski has returned to practice and will go on the road trip Friday to Colorado, but there is no set date for his return.

"I want to take my time with him," Savard said.

Streak buster: For the first time since joining the Hawks in 2005, Martin Lapointe missed a game, sitting Wednesday against St. Louis because of the flu.

Lapointe had played in 209 consecutive games with the Hawks and 254 straight dating back to the 2003-04 season when he was with the Boston Bruins.

Reason to believe: Denis Savard sees plenty of time left on the schedule for the Hawks to go on a run and make the playoffs.

"We have the players to make it happen, I believe, up front," Savard said. "I believe we're as good as any team. Every time I look at the opponent we're playing, I look at their team and our team and we're as good or better than they are.

"Our structure has to be there, though. That's a key thing. Every night we have to have it. If it's not there for even a period, that's why we've lost a lot of those 1-goal games. We kind of fall off the program and we have to follow it to a T. It's up to us now to find a way to win those 1-goal games."

Scout spotted: Hawks assistant general manager Rick Dudley was seen watching Tampa Bay play last weekend.

With rumors of Nikolai Khabibulin being available, it's only natural to connect the dots with the Lightning -- Khabibulin's former team and one that is last in the Eastern Conference largely because of poor goaltending.