It's a 'team loss,' but Hawks' goalie fizzles

As much as Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville wants everyone to believe there is no goaltending controversy, the issue isn't going away just yet.

Cristobal Huet, coming off a win in Nashville, struggled again Saturday night at the United Center and it cost the Hawks dearly in a 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars.

On a night when the Hawks dominated much of the game offensively, Huet allowed 2 deflating goals, including one that needed to be seen to be believed.

With the Hawks trailing 3-2 midway through the third period, Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas fired one from inside the red line around the glass that deflected toward the goal, bounced and hopped into the net between Huet and the post.

Huet also let Toby Petersen beat him with a slap shot from past the right circle near the boards in the second period that rang down the boos from the sellout crowd.

"I can blame only myself," Huet said. "The third goal (by Petersen) is bad. It can't happen. Right now I feel bad because I feel I let the team down. I know I can play way better than that.

"Obviously, I really looked bad tonight and I didn't help the team."

Quenneville and others stood behind Huet, calling it a team loss.

"It was a tough night," Quenneville said. "He let a couple funny ones in there. Certainly we weren't at our best. We had a good first period and had nothing to show for it.

"They were looking for turnovers and they capitalized. We kept trying to get ourselves back into it, but the fourth one was a tough one."

The Hawks dominated much of the first two periods yet trailed 3-2 going to the third.

Dallas broke a scoreless tie with goals from Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro in the first five minutes of the second period that weren't horrible - then came Petersen's long one after Troy Brouwer had scored to bring the Hawks within 2-1.

Huet allowed those 3 goals on just 6 shots.

"We win as a team and we lose as a team," captain Jonathan Toews said. "Nobody in here points fingers. He's battling just as hard, if not harder, than anyone in this locker room. It's up to us to give a better effort in front of him."

Petersen's goal could have deflated Huet's teammates, but they got the offensive pressure going again to close within 3-2 on Toews' first of the season.

The Hawks rallied again after Robidas' goal, pulling to within 4-3 on Niklas Hjalmarsson's goal with 4:28 to play, but that's as close as they got.

"I thought we still outplayed them overall," defenseman Duncan Keith said. "There's not one guy that takes the blame for a loss. There were other goals scored that weren't (Huet's) fault.

"It was a bad bounce on the last one. This glass has been popping out every game it seems. That's not the reason why we lost. We lost because we let them get back in the game. We had a good first period and we gave them a couple goals off sloppy play by us. That's the story line, I think."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Stars 4, Blackhawks 3</p> <p class="breakhead">Three stars</p> <p class="News"><b>1. Alex Auld:</b> Dallas goalie faced 32 shots, 14 coming in a scoreless first period in which he was the difference.</p> <p class="News"><b>2. Stephane Robidas:</b> Stars defenseman, whom the Hawks gave up on a few years ago, had a goal, 5 hits and 2 blocked shots in 27 minutes. He'd look good in a Hawks uniform now.</p> <p class="News"><b>3. Troy Brouwer:</b> Hawks winger scored a goal and was in the middle of some good things with 2 hits.</p> <p class="breakhead">Key stat</p> <p class="News">The Hawks outshot the Stars 14-5 in the first period and came away with nothing thanks to Auld.</p> <p class="breakhead">Star search</p> <p class="News">The Dallas Stars played without three of their key players Saturday in Mike Modano (ribs), Jere Lehtinen (stomach) and Steve Ott (oblique).</p>