Smokin' hot Khabibulin buoys Hawks -- and they'll need it in playoffs
The way goalie Nikolai Khabibulin is rounding into form, the Blackhawks have to be feeling better and better about their playoff chances.
Khabibulin was sensational in Sunday's 1-0 win in overtime at Columbus, giving him three straight victories and six in his last seven starts.
It will be essential for the Hawks to get great goaltending in the postseason, particularly in the first round whether they face Vancouver and Roberto Luongo or Calgary with Miikka Kiprusoff.
"He's an experienced guy who can help our team in a lot of ways," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
Khabibulin has demonstrated he can put a team on his back and carry it through the playoffs. He proved it with Tampa Bay in 2004 when he led the Lightning to the Stanley Cup when few predicted it would happen.
Khabubulin made 20 saves Sunday for the shutout, including a huge one on Kris Russell's breakaway in OT that came moments before Kris Versteeg bagged the game winner.
So much of the focus is on how inexperienced many of the Hawks are when it comes to the playoffs. But the experience of those guys who have been through the wars has been very much evident of late.
In addition to Khabibulin's strong surge, Sammy Pahlsson, a Stanley Cup champion with Anaheim in 2007, is getting better and better and making a difference in these tight tests.
Andrew Ladd won a Cup with Carolina in 2006 and continues to be one of the most unsung players on the Hawks' roster. It was Ladd busting up a rush by Rick Nash on Sunday and feathering the puck ahead to Versteeg, who scored on the breakaway at 3:10 of overtime.
"Ladd has been making great plays all season," Versteeg said.
The Hawks maintained their slippery grip on fourth place in the Western Conference with four games to play. If they can take care of their own business the rest of the week, it won't matter what Vancouver and Calgary do.
"Our motivation is fourth," Quenneville told reporters following Sunday's win. "Let's achieve it ourselves."