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Kane, Blackhawks aim for sixth straight home win

Dec 5, 2007 - 3:01 PM Vancouver (14-10-2) at Chicago (14-10-2) 8:30 pm EST

CHICAGO (Ticker) - The Chicago Blackhawks hope to keep rolling at home when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.

Thanks to rookie Patrick Kane and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, the Blackhawks have outscored opponents, 23-8, en route to five straight wins here.

The top overall pick of this year's draft, Kane leads Chicago with 20 assists and 27 points, while Khabibulin is 7-1-2 with a 2.55 goals-against average in his last 10 starts.

In addition, Khabibulin is 3-0 with a 1.33 GAA in his last three starts here.

However, both Khabibulin and Kane will have to be on top of their games if the Blackhawks are going to beat the Canucks for just the third time in the last 16 meetings.

Making matters worse, Kane and his teammates will face a red-hot goaltender who has dominated them recently.

Roberto Luongo will be in net for the first time since having his shutout streak snapped at 210 minutes, 34 seconds in Vancouver's 2-1 loss to Minnesota on Sunday.

Luongo, whose shutout streak began with a 2-0 win over Chicago on November 25, is 5-1 with a 0.98 GAA in his last six starts vs. the Blackhawks.