Injured Havlat goes as far as he can go

Martin Havlat has fought the reputation of being a soft player for nearly his entire three seasons with the Blackhawks.

But Havlat toughed it out Sunday, playing as much as he could for as long as he could in Game 4 at the United Center after being knocked out Friday in Game 3 by Nicklas Kronwall's controversial hit.

It was clear, however, that Havlat wasn't himself, and after playing just eight minutes into the second period of the Hawks' 6-1 loss to the Red Wings, he left after taking another hard hit, this one from defenseman Brad Stuart.

The Hawks probably won't know until Wednesday if Havlat can play in Game 5 at Joe Louis Arena.

"He seemed fine after the game," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "So we'll see how he progresses over the next couple of days. You know, he handled it well coming out of Friday. We'll see."

The Hawks claimed they didn't go around in Game 4 looking for revenge for the hit on Havlat even though they took 16 penalties - 9 of them for roughing - compared to 7 for the Red Wings.

"That (Kronwall hit) didn't have anything to do with it," Jonathan Toews said. "Obviously we wanted to play tough and make it miserable for their best players.

"We know Marty's a tough customer, but for us it's more about the bigger picture. If we could have found a way to get back at them as a team and win this one tonight we would have been more satisfied."

Not that easy: If the Hawks thought they were going to take advantage of the Red Wings without Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk on Sunday, they failed to get the job done.

Lidstrom was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. Detroit coach Mike Babcock said he found out about his captain's injury in the cab en route to the United Center.

"Without Pav and Nick, I really felt our team was going to dig in," Babcock said. "I thought (Henrik) Zetterberg showed great leadership and I thought (Marian) Hossa played an unbelievable game. Our back end was solid."

Zetterberg and Hossa each scored 2 goals. The Red Wings also got big efforts on defense from Brian Rafalski (3 assists) and Brad Stuart (27 minutes, 3 hits).

Lidstrom apparently tweaked something late in Game 3, although he did practice Saturday. Babcock said he thought Lidstrom's injury was short term.

"I hope to see him Wednesday," Babcock said.

Chris Chelios saw his first action of the series in Lidstrom's spot but got only 4:37 of ice time (six shifts).

Looking for momentum: Joel Quenneville said he pulled goalie Cristobal Huet in the second period, down 4-1, then put him back in to start the third for the same reason.

"He hasn't played much - was a part of it," Quenneville said. "I wanted to change the momentum in the second. We went about it that way. Then we wanted to get him some playing time, too, because he hasn't played much. You know, I thought going forward, that can help."

Strange sight: Ex-Hawk Bob Probert always will be most remembered for his years with the Red Wings as the toughest player in the NHL.

But there was Probert dropping the ceremonial first puck Sunday wearing a Hawks jersey. Probert has said he is pulling for the Hawks because of their 47-year Stanley Cup drought.