Change in shootout order pays off

With Jonathan Toews 2-for-2 in shootouts and Patrick Kane 0-for-3, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville figured why not shake up the batting order.

So in Saturday's shootout at Columbus, Toews went first instead of Kane, whose job that has been since early last season.

Toews scored the only goal to give the Hawks a 4-3 victory in a shootout that never got to Kane, with Quenneville choosing to slot Patrick Sharp second.

"I don't like sitting still when things aren't working," Quenneville said Sunday. "I like trying things."

Toews, now 3-for-3, says it's a different mindset going first instead of second or third.

"It definitely makes it easier on me watching Kaner and Sharpie go down," Toews said. "You see what the goalie is trying to do. Sometimes they'll stay in the cage and make you shoot the puck instead of deking. It definitely helps going second or third."

Familiar faces: Tonight's game against the Colorado Avalanche will be Joel Quenneville's first against the team he coached through last season when his contract expired and both sides agreed to part company.

"I certainly do know a lot of the guys and I enjoyed my time there," Quenneville said. "They're a dangerous team. They have a lot of weapons offensively and their defense is solid. With them playing (Sunday night against San Jose), hopefully we can take advantage of them."

Because of a quirk in the schedule, the Hawks don't play again after tonight's game until Sunday against Calgary.

"It's early in the season, but this is a meaningful game for us knowing that we have some days off," Quenneville said. "Something to think about in between days is we have some momentum here so let's try to sustain it."

Upon further review: The Hawks probably don't beat Columbus if not for goalie Cristobal Huet, who was especially sharp on 10 Blue Jackets power plays.

"You're not going to win many games getting 10 power plays (against)," Joel Quenneville said. "But I have to commend guys, and Huet was a key part of the penalty killing as well. But we have to be more disciplined and smart in certain areas."

Despite Huet's strong outing, Nikolai Khabibulin starts tonight against the Avs.

"We looked at three games in four nights and it was pretty well decided going into it," Quenneville said. "Nobody changed our minds. They've both been rock solid and it's been a real easy decision as far as who's playing, but the way they've played has been really good for our hockey club."