Nashville's Ellis tops Khabibulin

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Blackhawks coach Denis Savard expected goalie Nikolai Khabibulin to play like he did Saturday.

What Savard didn't expect was for Nashville's Dan Ellis to match Khabibulin.

The Predators have been getting poor goaltending of late, but Ellis responded to the threat of being benched and was nearly flawless, besting the Hawks and Khabibulin 2-1 in a shootout.

"Khabibulin was spectacular," Savard said. "Ellis happened to have a good game today."

The Hawks got a leadoff goal from Patrick Kane in the shootout, but Ellis stopped Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp. Khabibulin, was 0-for-2, beaten by Rich Peverley and Alexander Radulov.

The Hawks missed out on a critical 1 point in the standings, but Savard saw the bright side. "We picked up a point on Colorado," he said.

Yeah, but the Predators picked up 2 points and they're one of the teams the Hawks are chasing as well.

"We just have to do the job (today against St. Louis) and move on," Savard said.

The Hawks had their best chances in the third period and overtime, but Ellis stopped Dave Bolland and Andrew Ladd in tight and Dustin Byfuglien hit the post.

They didn't test Ellis enough early when the struggling goalie might have been trying to find his confidence.

"No, we didn't," Toews said.

"Ellis played a good game, but it's too bad because Khabibulin had a better game," Ladd said. "Habby stood on his head and kept us in it in the first couple periods, and in the third I thought Ellis kept them in it."

Ladd scored the only Hawks goal late in the first period to answer a goal by Jason Arnott on a rebound Khabibulin had no chance to stop. The line of Ladd, Bolland and Patrick Sharp was the Hawks' best.

"I'm proud of our guys. They came to work from our defense, to the Toews line, to the Bolland line to the (Adam) Burish line," Savard said. "They gave us a heck of an effort."

The Hawks outshot the Predators 38-34 even though they didn't get a single power play from referees Mike Hasenfratz and Justin St. Pierre.

"We had 38 shots without a power play, so you've done something pretty good," Savard said. "We kept playing through everything."

The Predators recalled goalie Pekka Rinne from Milwaukee prior to the game and threatened to start him, but coach Barry Trotz changed his mind and an angry Ellis stepped up.

Trotz has been highly critical of goalies Ellis and Chris Mason.

"As goaltenders we have taken a lot of criticism," Ellis said. "It's a team game, but all of a sudden it became an individual sport. A lot of fingers were being pointed at us. It was motivating, disheartening and frustrating that they felt the need to call up Pekka."

Responded Trotz: "This had nothing to do with trying to motivate anyone. This was done to get results. We're at a time when we need solid goaltending, and we got it from Ellis."

The Hawks lost Robert Lang in the first period with a stiff back after he played just four minutes and took a hooking penalty.

Savard didn't know if Lang would play today. "I have no idea," he said.