Bottomlines? Q shakes them up vs. Anaheim
Phil Danault and his wingers, Andrew Desjardins and Teuvo Teravainen, have been around the net a lot lately. But they need to find the back of the net every now and then, too.
And entering the game Saturday against the Ducks, the Blackhawks’ third line had scored only one goal in the last 15 games.
“It’s never good enough, you know?” Danault said. “We’ve got to get goals, and we have to work even harder. That’s what it shows to me. We’ve been working hard, but it [hasn’t] come. So we’ve got to keep playing the way we are but be more hungry around the net. ”
Well, after consecutive lackluster losses, Joel Quenneville shook up the Hawks’ bottom six. Dennis
Rasmussen joined Danault and Desjardins on the third line, and Teravainen centered Jiri Sekac and Richard Panik on the fourth line. Brandon Mashinter was a healthy scratch.
Still, Quenneville made it clear before the game that he wasn’t particularly upset with the performance lately of the bottom six, who are designed to play a more defensive role anyway. More than anything, the Hawks just needed a bit of a shakeup.
“I think we monitor them on what they give up more than what they can create,” he said. “They’ve been fine defensively; offensively, they’ve been holding their own. When things aren’t going as well, it’d be nice if they scored, but ... it’s not like we’re displeased with them. You look at their five-on-five play, chance-wise, they’ve been holding their own.”
Panarin in
Artemi Panarin returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with a sickness. Panarin said a regimen of rest and tea with raspberry jam (a traditional Russian remedy) helped.
“He’s been an important player for us right from the outset there; he’s dangerous,” Quenneville said. “He gives that [second] line another threat, and our offense was a little light the last two games.”
Gustafsson out
Erik Gustafsson was a healthy scratch for the first time since being called back up in late December. Viktor Svedberg and Michal Rozsival made up the Hawks’ third pairing.