Quenneville won't get involved in No. 1 goalie debate

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville will wait until after Tuesday's practice to tell everyone who is playing goal when the Vancouver Canucks come to the United Center on Wednesday night.

If it's not Cristobal Huet, and the odds are against him starting after his poor performance in Saturday's loss to Dallas, it will only serve to fuel speculation that the Hawks do not have a clear-cut No. 1 goalie at this point in the season.

"I wouldn't measure it that way as we've always announced who's playing net one day before the game," Quenneville said. "You can speculate anything the way you want it, but we'll make that decision (Tuesday)."

It was back to practice on Monday for Huet, who downplayed talk that an attempt to change his style has led to his early struggles. Huet's plan was to not drop to his knees as quickly, but any such change hasn't been noticeable in his six starts.

"I haven't changed much," Huet said Monday. "I don't want to be on my knees all the time, but I want to be technically sound as well."

Huet, who is 2-2-1 with a 3.25 goals-against average and .844 save percentage, was still analyzing the two bad goals he gave up to the Stars - Toby Petersen's from well past the right circle, and Stephane Robidas' from inside the red line that deflected off the side glass and bounced before going in the net.

"If you watch the goals from last game, one (Petersen's) is definitely mental," Huet said. "It's just a tough read and I misjudged the play. The fourth one, I don't know if I can work on that."

Huet said he has had slow starts before in his career and worked his way through them.

"There are a lot of things we can work on, definitely," Huet said.

The show of support from his teammates after the Dallas game was certainly appreciated by Huet, who was booed loudly by the crowd in the United Center.

"It means a lot," Huet said. "It's not easy for me lately, and I think it's nice when your teammates are there for you. I wish I could have done more for them, but the season is long and I've been around long enough to know there are ups and downs and I've started with a down."

Part of what Huet faces, as he works to improve his game, is winning over the fans as well.

"That's not a good situation," Quenneville said. "Everybody likes support and likes to play well at the same time. Over time, I think you have to work your way back where everything's going your way and the crowd is behind you because it's a great building and we should take advantage of the fans and the crowd."

The Hawks have yet to play 10 games, but saying it's early only lasts so long, especially in the brutally tough Western Conference where points wasted now will haunt you in March and April.

Quenneville continues to say all the right things about his beleaguered goalie.

"It's early in the year and everybody gets better parts in their season where they're playing their best," Quenneville said.

So is too much being made of Huet's early struggles? Quenneville didn't say yes or no.

"We all know the scrutiny goaltenders go through," Quenneville said. "Certainly there's a lot more attention and evaluation on the goaltender than any other position.

"Huey has to work his way through it, and from process gain confidence and feel good about this process that it's only going to get better and fight through it."