Hawks see plenty of work ahead in goal for Huet

Despite Antti Niemi's shutout against Florida last Saturday, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville still plans to ride Cristobal Huet for the next little while.

Huet will start Thursday's game at Detroit and is expected to be in goal for Saturday's home opener against Colorado and likely Monday's game with Calgary at the United Center.

The Hawks don't play back-to-back games again until Oct. 14-15 against Edmonton and Nashville.

"We're comfortable with Huey and the way he played," Quenneville said, looking back at last Friday's 4-3 shootout loss to Florida. "I thought he played great in that first game. We could have been down by two or three after that first period and he kept us in the game. It wasn't a goalie result there. He gets an opportunity to play regularly now."

With Corey Crawford having cleared waivers and been assigned to Rockford, Quenneville said the backup competition is over for now.

"The situation with waivers and technicalities, it was a real close decision and that might have been part of weighing it as well," Quenneville said. "The decision, as far as evaluating their play, was very close. Crawford can come back on need having cleared waivers.

"Crawford is going to go down there and play and hopefully at some point he gets an opportunity to show he can play at our level, but at the same time Antti has got a great chance to be a part of it and it looks like he's going to be here."

Eager questionable: The Hawks might not have left winger Ben Eager for Thursday's game at Detroit because of an upper body injury that Joel Quenneville said has been lingering since training camp.

If Eager can't play, Radek Smolenak would take his place.

Dave Bolland (sore back) and Troy Brouwer (lower body) also sat out Tuesday's practice but should play Thursday.

"With Bolland, it's more maintenance," Quenneville said.

Feeling good: The Hawks aren't worried about jet lag after their return flight home from Europe late Saturday night.

Coach Joel Quenneville gave them Sunday and Monday off, and Tuesday's practice was crisp.

"I don't believe any of us adjusted to the time over there so it hasn't been a problem yet coming back," Jonathan Toews said.

"Our practice was as crisp as we've seen it, so hopefully that's the end of the jet lag," Quenneville said. "Having two days off, they showed they're ready to go forward. This was one of the best practices we've had all year."