Havlat Leads Blackhawks to Victory

By Todd McClamroch in News on Nov 29, 2007 5:18PM

The Blackhawks benefited from the return of Martin Havlat on Wednesday night. Havlat, who had missed 22 games due to a shoulder injury, scored Jjust 43 seconds into his return to action on a backhander to the upper-left corner of the net to give the Hawks a 1-0 edge on the Tampa Bay Lightning. He would go on to score again in just 12 seconds into the second period, scoring off a shot from the faceoff. That goal gave the Blackhawks a 3-0 lead en route to a 5-1 victory in the first home game after six games on the road.

Goalkeeper Nikolai Khabibulin was close to earning a shutout, registering 21 stops on the night, but he let in a power play goal late in the third period. Khabibulin not only played great defensively but earned a few assists as well. Also scoring for the Hawks were Dustin Byfuglien and the team's two leading scorers Patrick Sharp (12) and Jonathan Toews (9).

The Blackhawks are now 13-9-2 for the season, and 7-5 at the United Center. They'll close out their November schedule when they return to the home ice on Friday night versus the Coyotes.

In other Blackhawks news, Bensenville police picked up Tuomo Ruutu while he was jogging since he fit the description of a robbery suspect. The police quickly learned he was not the correct person and he was set free, but not before signing an autograph for the police. According to a Tribune article Ruutu said it was a "fun incident".