| « Prince to Return Sooner than Expected to Struggling Sky | Blackhawks Win Game 4 By A Biscuit » |
Blackhawks Wed Jun 19 2013
Quenneville To Potentially Beef Up Top Line For Game 4
It's being reported out of Boston, after the Blackhawks' morning skate, that head coach Joel Quennville very well could pair his top line as Bickell-Toews-Kane for Game 4 tonight. This potential pairing could provide the Hawks with more scoring chances up front, compared to the Game 3 line of Kruger-Toews-Frolik.
This potential move should help the captain attempt more shots during his ice time, with Kane able to move the puck his way. The move also should provide a bigger presence at the net with Bickell camping out in front of his good buddy Zdeno Chára.
According to behindthenet.ca, Toews' time on the ice per 60 minutes (TOI/60) is just under 17 at full strength, during the 2013 playoffs. During that time, he leads his team with a +28.15 CORSI number. (CORSI measures how many shots are taken on net by a team while that player is on the ice.) That leads both teams with players who have played at least 19 games.
According to Comcast Sportsnet's Tracey Myers, the rest of Quenneville's lines potentially could go like this:
Line 2: Sharp-Handzus-Mayers
Line 3: Saad-Shaw-Stalberg
Line 4: Kruger-Bolland-Frolik
The insertion of Jamal Mayers on the second line with Sharp and Handzus makes it clear that Quenneville wants to start camping out bigger players in front of the net in order to block the view of Bruins' goalie Tuukka Rask, who shutout the Hawks in Game 3.
There had been talk that Marian Hossa, who was scratched from Game 3, would "likely" play tonight. According to the Blackhawks Twitter feed, Hossa did not participate in the morning skate; however, Quenneville did mention Hossa was fine and that he is expected to play. The potential lines could shuffle. If that were to happen, and depending on how serious Hossa's injury really is/was, the Slovakian could see time in place of Stalberg, but that has yet to be determined.
The Hawks are looking to split the road portion of this series with a win tonight. If they can pull it out, they would regain home ice, and, thus, make it a best-of-three series coming back to the United Center on Saturday evening.
