Hawks keep 'plugging,' winning

Only a fool would say who needs Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook, but for the second straight game the Blackhawks did just fine without their injured stars.

With goalie Cristobal Huet sharp for the second game in a row and with strong special-teams play, the Hawks turned back the Minnesota Wild 3-1 Monday night at the United Center.

The Hawks have won two tight defensive games without Toews and Seabrook, with Monday's win a nice follow-up to Saturday's 2-0 shut out of Nashville.

"Those are really big players in our lineup, and when you've got two guys like that missing from the lineup you've got to sort of tighten it up and play a conservative game," Hawks center Dave Bolland said.

"Those are two key players and I hope they come back soon, but we'll keep plugging without them."

Huet needed to make only 20 saves thanks to combination of a sound defensive effort from his teammates and an anemic Minnesota offense. The Wild dropped to 0-8 on the road, where it has scored only 13 goals.

Minnesota went 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Hawks got a power-play goal from Troy Brouwer, their first in four games.

"I think that was the difference tonight," Huet said. "Our penalty-kill was fantastic. I thought we were excellent tonight and even our power play finally gets one for us, and that's the game-winner right there."

Brouwer's goal on a rebound came late in the first period and made it 2-0. Bolland had opened the scoring with his first goal in six games.

Andrew Brunette's power-play goal at 3:29 of the third period made things interesting, but Patrick Kane gave the Hawks back their 2-goal advantage with a sweet goal at 6:54.

Kane stole the puck from Eric Belanger behind the net, skated out to goalie Niklas Backstrom's right, turned and fired a shot into the upper corner of the net to the short side.

"He flew around there and sort of did a little spin-o-rama," Bolland said. "There was only about an inch there that he could sneak it in. That was a pretty sick shot."

It was Kane's 50th career goal and first in six games.

"It's one of those plays I've been working on with assistant coach John Torchetti since I came here," Kane said. "It's one of those plays where you want to step out from behind the net and turn and fire it high.

"It's got to be a perfect shot and it's lucky, too. You kind of shoot and pray it goes in, but it was nice to see that one work."

Kane's goal was a deflating one for the Wild.

"You have to give the Hawks credit," Minnesota coach Todd Richards said. "We get back in the game with that power-play goal and Kane makes us pay in our own end."

Ex-Hawk Martin Havlat, making his first regular-season appearance at the UC since leaving as a free agent, was hardly a factor. He was minus-2 with 1 shot on goal in 20 minutes.

Havlat is minus-10 with 1 goal for the Wild in nine games.

<p class="factboxheadblack">Tim Sassone's game tracker</p> <p class="News">Blackhawks 3, Wild 1</p> <p class="News"><b>Three stars:</b> 1. Dave Bolland, Hawks. Scored a goal and was a key defensively as a penalty-killer; played 20 minutes, more than any other Chicago forward.</p> <p class="News">2. Cristobal Huet, Hawks. Two solid wins in a row for the No. 1 goalie.</p> <p class="News">3. Brian Campbell, Hawks. Plus-2 in 26 minutes, killed penalties and had 2 hits.</p> <p class="News"><b>Key stat:</b> The Hawks held the Wild to 11 shots on goal over the last two periods. Defenseman Brent Sopel had 5 of the Hawks' 17 blocked shots.</p> <p class="News"><b>Fight card:</b> When Jake Dowell dropped the gloves and threw with Shane Hnidy in the first period, it was only the third fight involving the Hawks this season.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=331996">Slow going for Toews, Seabrook<span class="date"> [10/26/09</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>