Niemi gets call in net vs. Stars

Call it a curious decision by Blackhawks coach Denis Savard.

Nikolai Khabibulin was supposed to start in goal Sunday night against the Dallas Stars, but instead it was Antti Niemi getting the call, with the rookie free agent from Finland playing very well in a 4-3 victory at the United Center.

Making matters even more curious was Savard saying after the game that he hadn't decided if Khabibulin would start tonight's preseason game in Columbus.

"He had a great practice (Saturday), I felt, and so did Antti," said Savard. "We'll get him a couple more days here and see what happens. He's ready to play and that will be my call (today) for Columbus."

The Hawks have insisted they are not looking to trade Khabibulin and his $6.75 million salary, although it's no secret they are eager to free up salary cap space to pursue an experienced center.

Niemi was a highly regarded free agent who had a number of teams pursuing him last summer.

"Antti, we want to give him some experience, plus we want to play him in front of our home crowd," Savard said. "That's basically it, and he reacted really well and played well for us."

Niemi was 26-14-6 for Pelicans Lahiti in the Finnish Elite League last season with a 2.35 goals-against average. He spent the last three seasons in Finland and felt the time was right to bring his game to North America.

"Some said I shouldn't come here, but for a goalie I think I can improve my game better here," Niemi said.

The Hawks got 3 power-play goals to back Niemi's 28-save performance, 2 of them by captain Jonathan Toews. Brian Campbell had 3 assists on the power play and 4 for the game.

"That's why we got him here," Savard said. "He wants to be the guy and it showed tonight. I just liked how we moved the puck on the power play."

Savard has the Hawks showing several different setups on the power play with Campbell in the middle of them all.

"It's been very easy coming into this situation that is all positive," Campbell said.

Martin Havlat didn't make his preseason debut as planned either.

"He's going to go see the doctor (that performed the shoulder surgery today) in Cleveland and get the green light for sure," Savard said. "He knows he's ready, but the doctor has called and wants to have one more look at him just to make sure he's 100 percent.

"We're OK with that and you'll see, I'm sure, the results are going to be good."

Savard expects Havlat to play in Tuesday's preseason game in Minnesota.