Barker not a forgotten man among his mates

In one corner of the Blackhawks locker room, reporters encircled Martin Havlat three deep, and for a good reason. The Hawks' leading scorer had just led the way to a 3-2 playoff victory over Calgary with a pair of goals, including the game-winner 12 seconds into overtime.

A few feet away stood young defenseman Cam Barker, virtually ignored despite scoring the Hawks first goal of the night and assisting on Havlat's game-tying goal.

While the media might have overlooked Barker late Thursday, his teammates didn't.

"Being such a young guy, sometimes that gets forgotten," said Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith. "He was great tonight.

"I think Cam and (Niklas) Hjalmarsson - both of those guys have been huge for us. And we're going to need to keep them going and keep them playing solid like they did tonight."

Barker, who finished the regular season with 6 goals and 34 assists, tied the game at 1-1 in the second period when he banged a shot from the blue line off a Calgary defender, skated toward the boards for the loose puck and and then wristed one past goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

"That means a lot to me and the team to get some confidence going and get your feet under you," Barker said.

His best play of the night, however, may have come late in the third period when he pinched down on the boards in the Clagary zone, forcing the puck loose and allowing Havlat to weave his magic.

"We needed a goal and it was a good time to go along the wall there," Barker said. "Obviously it's a credit to Marty for sticking with it."

Barker wasn't the least bit surprised that it was Havlat who picked up the eventual game-winner in overtime.

"He's been doing that all year," Barker said. "This is huge for the team. Obviously there isn't lot of playoff experience in her and to get that first one in there is big."