Blackhawks' lack of defense depth could cost them Stanley Cup

Kevin Allen | USA TODAY Sports

CHICAGO -- Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival will make a full recovery from the broken ankle suffered against the Minnesota Wild on May 7.

It's his team that may not recover.

More than a month has passed, and the Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and yet they are still scrambling to plug the hole on their third defense pairing that was created by Rozsival's season-ending injury.

Before Rozsival went down, the Blackhawks were winning by primarily playing five defensemen. Since his injury, the Blackhawks have been counting heavily on four defensemen and giving limited playing time to their No. 5 and No. 6 defensemen.

In Game 3, their No. 4 defenseman, Johnny Oduya, suffered an upper body injury and had to temporarily leave the game. At that point, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville essentially was down to Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson as the only three defensemen he trusted.

Oduya returned to the game, but his status raises the question about whether the Rozsival injury, coupled with a lack of proven depth on defense, is forcing the Blackhawks to overtax their top defensemen as the series reaches Game 4 on Wednesday with the Lightning leading 2-1.

"I think we got a good group back there that knows how to manage their ice time and play the right way," Seabrook said.

Keith played 31:37 in Game 3. Meanwhile Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman, the Lightning's best player in the game, played 26:06

It's the most ice time Keith has had in a regulation game this postseason. Seabrook played 26:45 minutes and Hjalmarsson played 24:16.

"They are all workhorses," said Lightning forward Brenden Morrow. "I don't know that we sense that they are getting worn down."

But Morrow said when his team was getting pucks in the corner and "winning those battles, winning the races to the pucks, that's a good sign for us."

Morrow said as the game progressed, "we seemed to get to more pucks. Guys like (Ryan) Callahan that were playing relentless in the corners and were winning those battles. That's something you probably don't see against top defensemen a lot."

Before the series started, Keith said he has always played more minutes than his peers and he's never felt any adverse effect. His coach Joel Quenneville has called him a "freak."

But with the Blackhawks facing a near must-win game, it's hard not to wonder if the Rozsival injury is hurting this team more than we realize. The Lightning and Blackhawks are so evenly matched that an overworked Blackhawks defense might be enough to give the Lightning an edge.

Moving forward, a key for the Blackhawks will be Oduya's ability to play through whatever undisclosed injury he may have, and Trevor van Riemsdyk's level of play. He played for the first time since April in Game 3, and Quenneville seemed to like what he saw.

"He made some really, really nice plays and showed patience and calmness with the puck," Hjalmarsson said.

Quenneville has also used Kimmo Timonen, David Rundblad and Kyle Cumiskey at various times and it's clear he doesn't have the same level of trust for them that he has in his Big Four. Cumiskey was defending on the game-winning goal in Game 3.

The suggestion that the Blackhawks defensemen might run out of gas began to find life during the Western Conference Final when the Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks played two lengthy overtime games. When the Blackhawks won the series, the storyline became less prominent. Now with Oduya hurting, the issue returns.

"I think (Oduya) will be all right," Quenneville said. "He looked all right today. We'll see how he is tomorrow."

Quenneville says sees no sign his defensemen are becoming fatigued.

"These guys take care of themselves to a different level," Quenneville said. "They find ways where they're ready to compete. … They don't mind playing big minutes."

If the Blackhawks win this series, the Rozsival injury will be forgotten. But if they lose, the team may always wonder whether an injury to a No. 5 defenseman was a key factor in missing out on a third Stanley Cup.

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