Huet making most of his opportunity

SUNRISE, Fla. - If it's as they say in sports that injuries create opportunities, then Cristobal Huet is taking advantage of the one being presented to him.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville wanted one of his goaltenders to emerge as the go-to guy down the stretch, and Huet may be doing just that with Nikolai Khabibulin sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury.

Huet led the Hawks to their third straight win Thursday night, all of them coming with him in net. Huet made 31 saves, at least 3 of them difference-making stops, in a 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers for his third shutout of the season.

"It's nice to have a little bit of a roll and to get some games under your belt," Huet said.

But not even Huet is ready to anoint himself the No. 1 goalie.

"We don't have the choice right now because Khabby is hurt," Huet said. "Khabby feels the same way I do, that every time we play we try to play well and the rest is out of our hands. It's a good break for me to play a few games in a row and go from there."

Quenneville certainly isn't ready to count out Khabibulin in the battle for playing time going down the stretch and into the playoffs.

"Khabby can't defend himself in that way, and he's certainly been outstanding all year long," Quenneville said. "It's a nice situation to be in where goaltending has been a strength and consistent.

"I think both guys would probably be deserving of a stretch where they should get the net and unfortunately injury is one of the reasons, but they both should be the guy getting the ball."

Ben Eager scored twice and Andrew Ladd and Jonathan Toews got a goal each as the Hawks improved to 7-3 on the road since the all-star break.

Ladd's 10th goal at 3:07 of the first period was really all Huet needed. It was 1-0 until the Hawks busted the game open with 3 goals in the final 12 minutes.

The Hawks outshot the Panthers 42-31 and were short-handed only twice.

"We were playing a hot team and we played almost a perfect game, getting that first goal and protecting the lead and playing smart," Huet said. "We didn't take too many penalties and finished them at the end when we had the chance."

Two of Huet's best saves came against David Booth with the Hawks ahead 1-0.

Huet stopped Booth busting in during the last minute of the first period, then in the second got his body in front of a Booth snapper from close range on a power play.

After Eager scored his first goal to make it 2-0 at 8:32 of the third period, Huet stoned Nathan Horton on a burst to the net three minutes later.

"Our goalies have been great all year," Ladd said. "I thought we played a good game, but we obviously made a couple mistakes and they had some great opportunities and (Huet) came up big every time.

"A big part of our winning ways this whole year is when we needed big saves they both come up big, and tonight was another example of that."

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