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Khabibulin gets Blackhawks back on track

Jan 12, 2009 - 5:03 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Good goaltending and a return to the comfy confines of home helped the Chicago Blackhawks return to their winning ways.

Nikolai Khabibulin made 26 saves and the Blackhawks snapped a modest two-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Sunday.

Dave Bolland snapped a tie just 5:58 into the second period and Martin Havlat sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 10 seconds to play in the third.

"Joel (Quenneville) has stressed going to the net more and that is what I did," Bolland said. "I just went hard to the net and got a good bounce and was able to capitalize."

Defenseman Duncan Keith notched two assists for Chicago, which improved to 13-2-4 on home ice and avoided its first three-game skid since November 26-29.

"I think Joel called his team out after last night and told them they needed a better effort," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "They came at us tonight with a better effort than last night. We needed to get points and it would have been nice to get one."

The Blackhawks are 13-1-4 at the United Center - with a loss to Detroit in the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field accounting for their other home setback.

"We don't want a long losing streak and we had to redeem ourselves after losing to them last night," Khabibulin said. "These points are important are we need to do better against division teams."

Dan Ellis made 30 saves for the Predators, who defeated the Blackhawks, 4-1, on Saturday in the first game of the home-and-home set.

"It was a hard fought game and I expected that after last night," Ellis said. "I just couldn't hold the puck on Bolland's goal and he pushed it in."

Dustin Byfuglien opened the scoring with a power-play goal just over nine minutes into the first period to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.

"It was a big win. We were a little down on ourselves and had been getting away from our game plan," Byfuglien said. "Tonight we got back into it and did our jobs."

Martin Erat netted the equalizer for the Predators two minutes later, but that is all they could manage against Khabibulin.

Khabibulin made 12 of his saves in the third period to help Chicago hold on while he improved to 13-3-4 on the season, including 7-0-3 at home.

"I hope it stays that way," Khabibulin said of his home success. "I think the big crowds help, our guys have more energy playing here. We have had good starts here and that helps too."