Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville put Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on a line together and it worked out nicely towards the end of the Western Conference Final. However, Tampa Bay has done a much better job of silencing Kane and Toews as they haven’t found the back of the net yet and Kane wasn’t able to get a shot on goal in Game 2.
As a result, it sounds like Quenneville is leaning towards rolling out more balanced lines in Game 3 on Monday.
“They didn’t have the production they did in the last couple games of the Anaheim series,” Quenneville said of the top line during Sunday’s press conference. “Certainly they’ve had some zone time, they’ve had some rush chances. They’ve made them defend. We split them up a little bit in the third, saw how that worked out.
“But, you know, their team defense is aggressive. There’s not a lot of room and time. I think that maybe changing those two guys on different lines will get us a little bit more depth and a little bit more balance, see how they can defend it.”
Quenneville also stated that Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell is healthy and if he is available for Game 3 then that might also bolster their depth. Teuvo Teravainen has impressed his bench boss though, so Quenneville has no shortage of significant decisions to make regarding the roster going into Game 3 on Monday.