Friendly UC crowd salutes Havlat

Martin Havlat returned to the United Center on Monday night. If not a hero's welcome, the sellout crowd showed its appreciation to one of its former stars.

The Blackhawks' leading scorer last season (77 points) returned for the first time with the Minnesota Wild. And the Chicago fans welcomed him back with loud applause early in the game.

Havlat also had his best chance to score early on.

''It was the first minute, and I didn't finish,'' Havlat said. ''Like I said, it's frustrating the way we've been playing on the road, and we have to get better on the road. It seemed like a lot of our games. We had chances, and they got the first one.''

Actually, the first two on first-period goals by Dave Bolland and Troy Brouwer.

''I thought we played well in the first period,'' Havlat said. ''It felt strange to play against so many guys that I was with for the last few years here. At the beginning, it was a little different tonight, but it wound up the same as every night. We had some chances and didn't score.

''When they got the first one, we were playing catch-up. We have to find a way to win some of these games. And I thought [Hawks goalie Cristobal] Huet played great tonight.''

After the Hawks scored the two first-period goals, the Wild never got even.

''Chicago is a good team, and they played a tough game and got a lead, and it made it even tougher,'' Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom said. ''We have to find a way to play above .500 on the road if we want to be a playoff team. Our system has a lot of new things, and by December-January, we should be better.''

''Chicago is a pretty darn good team,'' Wild center Kyle Brodziak said. ''There's not a lot of difference from last year. They are hardworking, fast, and they can score. This is pretty much the team that made it to the conference finals [last season].''