Huet's 48 saves lifts Blackhawks past Jackets

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A night after presidential candidate John McCain held what he dubbed a victory rally in Nationwide Arena, the Blackhawks put together one of their own in the very same building, fighting back from a couple of late Columbus rallies to take a 4-3 shootout victory over the relentless Blue Jackets and in the process pick up their first road win of the season.

And just as the race for the White House has been one long, hard slog, so was the Hawks' journey from winlessness to victory lane on the road.

Simply put; they had to earn every inch of it on Saturday.

Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook and Martin Havlat each scored in regulation, goaltender Cristobal Huet turned away 48 of the 51 shots he faced, Jonathan Toews, who hasn't scored a goal all season, was the only player to score in the shootout, and the Hawks' penalty killers doused 9 of 10 Columbus power plays on a night when it seemed like the Hawks (5-3-3) were a man short most of the time.

Hey, coach Joel Quenneville, are you feeling like you just stole one?

"Without a doubt."

The relief of snapping their winless mark away from home was palapable afterwards in the Hawks' dressing room.

"We needed that road win desperately," Huet said.

"It's big for us to come in here and steal one on the road," Toews said. "Once you get one or two wins under your belt on the road, you build that confidence."

Killing off 9 of 10 power plays didn't hurt, either.

"Huge," Toews said. "We never like to get into penalty trouble like that, but in that situation we made the best of it, and we built on that."

And then there was the play of Huet, who a night after Nikolai Khabibulin picked up a win over Dallas, responded with a big effort of his own.

"That was definitely a goalie win tonight," Quenneville said. "He was great. I felt like he was the story of the night."

Huet and associates had to be to survive a Columbus barrage that featured more than a fair share of shots off the posts and crossbar.

"The posts were on our side today," Huet said with a little smile.

Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock didn't think all that clanking was so hilarious.

"My ears are ringing from all the posts we hit today," Hitchcock said.

But it all added up to a Hawks' win, and to finally do it in a shootout situation after going 0-for-3 prior to Saturday, was crucial, according to Toews.

"If I'm thinking correctly (he was), I think we've gone to shootout against every team in our division, so for us to get the 2 points is huge," Toews said.

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