Khabibulin has to cut Monday's workout short

Nikolai Khabibulin had a setback Monday in his rehab from the lower-body injury that has sidelined him the last two games, and he did not make the road trip with his Blackhawks teammates.

Khabibulin tried to practice but couldn't make it through the workout.

"He tried it this morning and it didn't come along as well, whether he aggravated it or it just didn't progress the way we hoped," coach Joel Quenneville said.

Cristobal Huet starts tonight at Tampa Bay for the third straight game.

"Huet's got the ball," Quenneville said. "Everyone was saying about one of the goalies trying to get some games in a row here."

Rookie Antti Niemi remained with the team as Huet's backup and might get a start this weekend with back-to-back games Saturday at Dallas and Sunday at home against Minnesota.

"We'll see," Quenneville said. "We've got time in between every game and Huey has played well. We'll take it one game at a time."

Tonight will be Huet's 28th start of the season, one more than Khabibulin.

Be prepared: Tampa Bay is 13th in the Eastern Conference, and the Hawks have slipped up against the NHL's weaker teams this season.

They have lost four of five to St. Louis and two of two with Los Angeles. The Hawks played poorly in Atlanta last week and were fortunate to beat the Thrashers because of Nikolai Khabibulin's strong work.

"It seems we're playing pretty good against the better teams, but we have to get wins against teams like L.A. or St. Louis," Patrick Kane said. "We've got to come out with wins in those games. Those are big games for us."

The Lightning is coming off a poor performance in a 5-1 home ice loss to Washington on Saturday.

"They're a dangerous team and we have to be respectful," Joel Quenneville said.

Tip-ins: There was no decision Monday on whether to recall a forward from Rockford to replace Patrick Sharp. - It's possible Joel Quenneville could just slide Craig Adams into the lineup on the fourth line and bump Ben Eager up to another line. - The Hawks haven't played at Tampa Bay since Dec. 2, 2005.