Kane sees adjustments on Pahlsson, Versteeg line

Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane is still adjusting to playing on the third line with Sammy Pahlsson and Kris Versteeg.

"With Sammy, he's been in a different role his whole career, strictly a shut-down guy, but he's got some pretty good offensive skill," Kane said. "If you watch him in practice, he can bury the puck. I think if we get a couple games under our belt here, and get some confidence and chemistry between us, we can do good things."

Perhaps coach Joel Quenneville has put Kane with Pahlsson in hopes of getting some better defensive play out of his second-year star.

"Sammy's always been more defensive-minded," said Kane, who is minus-6 for the season. "He always seems to be on the defensive side of the puck, which isn't bad. It's good for guys like myself and Versteeg, who are more offensive-minded."

Kane scored a huge goal in the shootout in the 6-5 win over San Jose on Wednesday. Going first, Kane beat goalie Evgeni Nabokov with the backhander that worked so well for him last season.

Kane is 3-for-8 in shootouts this year.

"You try a couple different moves that don't work, and you tend to go back to what works," Kane said. "It seems to never let me down. I think I'll stick with the one move from now until it doesn't work a couple times. I went back to traditional backhand move."

Wait and see: Goalie Cristobal Huet didn't practice Thursday because of an apparent injury, and coach Joel Quenneville said he would know more about the situation today.

Corey Crawford was brought in from Rockford for Thursday's optional practice.

At first Quenneville said Huet was resting.

"Huey had to rest and we'll see how it presents itself (today)," Quenneville said. "The word we'll call it is assessment. Rest probably isn't the right word."

Huet hasn't played since March 18 at Columbus.

Nikolai Khabibulin makes his fourth straight start tonight against New Jersey.

Devil of a test: New Jersey comes to town tonight having lost two games in a row, but the Hawks know they're in for a battle against the team with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.

"They're well rested this week, not having played since Monday, so they'll be ready for our game," Joel Quenneville said. "They're probably as balanced a team that we've faced all year."

Tip-ins: Thursday's practice was optional with about half the team skating without the coaches - Defenseman Matt Walker will miss his third straight game with an upper body injury - Defenseman Aaron Johnson has appeared in 31 games this season and never been a minus player.