Savard gives Byfuglien a break

DENVER -- Blackhawks coach Denis Savard thought Dustin Byfuglien needed to regroup, which is why he scratched the rookie defenseman from Wednesday's loss to the Avalanche.

It was the first scratch of the season for Byfuglien since he was recalled from Rockford in late October. Byfuglien has been a minus player in four of his last eight games.

"I just thought he has struggled," Savard said. "Basically he's lost a little confidence and we wanted to give him a little breather here and get him back with a couple practices and get him back in there in the next game."

Even if Byfuglien had played Wednesday, it was Savard's plan to replace him at the point on the power play with James Wisniewski.

Long layover: The Hawks are spending five full days and part of a sixth in San Jose. They meet the Sharks on Saturday afternoon at HP Pavilion.

After a day off Sunday for a Super Bowl party, the Hawks have practices scheduled in San Jose on Monday and Tuesday before heading to Edmonton.

Denis Savard gave thought to returning home following Saturday's game but decided against it.

"It's a long way and it's not a bad idea either to have some team togetherness," Savard said. "It's a long trip, but we'll get our rest when it's needed and we'll practice hard when it's needed."

Tip-ins: The original plan was for Nikolai Khabibulin to start again against the Sharks on Saturday, but that was before he allowed 6 goals on 30 shots in the loss to the Avs. "We'll evaluate everything, but he's not to be blamed," Denis Savard said. … Patrick Kane was able to play Wednesday despite a stomach virus, but he was not a factor in the loss. "I felt all right -- not 100 percent, but good enough to play," Kane said. "Hopefully I can get rid of it."