Khabibulin to undergo MRI

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Blackhawks are keeping their fingers crossed that the MRI goalie Nikolai Khabibulin is scheduled to undergo today on his back shows no damage.

"It's just precautionary," said Hawks general manager Dale Tallon.

Khabibulin missed his second straight game, sidelined again Sunday night against the Ducks with back spasms that first flared in Wednesday's game over Minnesota. Khabibulin's back stiffened on Thursday's four-hour flight to California.

"He's not better," said Hawks coach Denis Savard. "There may be something going on in there. Hopefully not. He's going to have an MRI to make sure."

Patrick Lalime started against the Ducks, but he didn't make it out of the first period. Savard pulled Lalime at 8:38 with the Hawks down 2-0, the second goal a bad one through Lalime's pads off the stick of Ryan Getzlaf.

Rookie Corey Crawford relieved Lalime, but Savard brought back Lalime to begin the second period.

Before the game, Savard and Tallon said they would have no problem using Crawford this week if needed.

"I trust him," Tallon said. "I think it's time to see if he has the goods. I think he does. Besides, where are you going to get another goalie? It's hard to do."

In addition to possibly being without Khabibulin, the Hawks won't have defenseman Brent Sopel for 2-3 weeks because of a fractured left hand.

The trade deadline is Tuesday, but Tallon said losing Sopel likely wouldn't affect his plans.

"Our talks haven't changed since before he got hurt," Tallon said.

Andrei Zyuzin filled in for Sopel again Sunday. Zyuzin has been on the trade block, but the Hawks now may be forced to keep him.

Deadline talk: Dale Tallon continued to lay more groundwork Sunday for anything he might do before Tuesday.

"I want to make a deal if it helps us," Tallon said. "There's a good chance we'll do something. How big, I don't know that."

Replacing Sopel: Denis Savard said losing Brent Sopel for the next few weeks probably wouldn't make him move Dustin Byfuglien back to defense.

"I hate to break up that line," Savard said, alluding to Byfuglien, Dave Bolland and Rene Bourque. "That's been one of our best lines.

"I'll probably just utilize Dunc (Keith) and (Brent) Seabrook and give them more minutes with (Jordan) Hendry and Wiz (James Wisniewski)."

Tip-ins: With his 30th goal Sunday, Patrick Sharp became the first Hawk since Eric Daze in 2001-02 to reach the milestone. Daze finished with 38 that year. … Martin Lapointe was a healthy scratch for the third straight game, increasing the speculation he will be moved before Tuesday's trade deadline.