One good game down, Hawks' Huet set for more

Cristobal Huet said it best after he shut out the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.

It's one game.

Maybe so, but for Huet it was a good place to start in his attempt to rebuild his struggling game and win over fans in the United Center again.

"It's never easy when people boo you," Blackhawks teammate Patrick Sharp said. "Let's hope this is a start of a good run for him. Hopefully the monkey is off his back and he can roll with it."

Huet will be right back in the net Monday night when the Hawks host the Minnesota Wild. He made 27 stops in the 2-0 win over Nashville, and several of them weren't easy.

"It was great for him in a lot of ways," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We liked the competitiveness he showed. Everybody has pride and he was challenged in a lot of ways the last week or so, and it was a great response. We need him."

It helped Huet that his teammates played a tight defensive game in front of him, particularly as the game wound down. The Predators had only 6 shots in the third period.

Huet worked on his game for nearly a full week between starts and it showed.

"I thought it was good for me to regroup myself a little bit," Huet said. "The team put in a good effort, we got 2 points and that's what we needed right now."

No change: Center Jake Dowell was returned to Rockford on Sunday, although it's likely he would be brought back Monday if Jonathan Toews can't play against the Wild.

Toews and defenseman Brent Seabrook sat out the win over Nashville with concussion-like symptoms and didn't practice again Sunday, making them doubtful to return Monday night.

Check, please: It's clear the scouting report is out on the high-flying Hawks: check, check, check them.

"The last three teams that came in here played a comparable game by being patient against us," Joel Quenneville said.

The Predators, Quenneville said, had a lot of respect for the Hawks' rush game. Vancouver played it just as tight in beating the Hawks last Wednesday.

Another stingy team comes to town in Minnesota, although new coach Todd Richards has the Wild playing a bit more of an offensive-type game than former coach Jacques Lemaire.

Playing smarter: The Hawks were 0-for-3 on the power play against Nashville, but two of them were cut short by Dustin Byfuglien penalties.

Joel Quenneville has seen a trend of late with the Hawks taking penalties while on the power play, and the coach doesn't like it.

"Those are careless and we can be better than that," Quenneville said.

Tip-ins: Martin Havlat is back in the Minnesota lineup after missing two games with a groin injury. Havlat is minus-8 with 1 goal and 4 assists in eight games. - Joel Quenneville singled out defenseman Brent Sopel's play in "matchup minutes" against Nashville. Filling in for Brent Seabrook, Sopel played almost 23 minutes alongside Duncan Keith and was plus-1 with a blocked shot.

<p class="factboxheadblack">Blackhawks game day</p> <p class="News">Minnesota Wild at the United Center, 7 p.m.</p> <p class="News"><b>TV:</b> Versus</p> <p class="News"><b>Radio:</b> WGN 720-AM</p> <p class="News"><b>What to watch:</b> Minnesota, last in the Western Conference, is 0-7 on the road and has been outscored 25-12. Ex-Hawk Martin Havlat is struggling with his new team, a minus-8 with 1 goal in eight games.</p> <p class="News"><b>Last season:</b> The Wild took three of four, including both games in Chicago.</p> <p class="News"><b>Next:</b> Nashville Predators at the Sommet Center, 7 p.m. Thursday</p>