“I thought they were good. They were alright. They generated enough. They were fine.”
That was Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, on the performance of his rejigged top line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Bryan Bickell in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final.
A ringing endorsement it was not. And no wonder, given the ‘Hawks lost the game, 5-2, and fell behind, 3-1, in their series with the Kings.
The trio did manage to hit the scoresheet, but not until Chicago was already in a deep hole. Bickell scored halfway through the third period to make it 4-2 for Los Angeles, with Kane and Toews picking up assists.
For Kane, it was his first point of the series, after languishing for three games on the second line with Patrick Sharp and Michal Handzus.
Handzus, by the way, logged just 4:28 of ice time, with Marcus Kruger stepping up to center Sharp and Marian Hossa.
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