If Duncan Keith plays, he’ll be back with Brent Seabrook
The Blackhawks hope to have defenseman Duncan Keith back in the lineup on Tuesday night when they face the Blues in St. Louis.
If Keith is able to play for the first time since missing three games with a left hand injury, he will be reunited with defense partner Brent Seabrook.
The day after their ugly 6-2 loss to Vancouver, the Hawks showed up for practice Monday to find changes to every forward line and defense pair.
“Whether it was coming or not, last night was a game that gets your attention in a lot of ways,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “When you look at things, you don’t mind making changes on a merit basis. Guys will get different opportunities and have a chance to enhance their opportunity going forward.”
The big change on defense is Keith back with Seabrook.
“I’m optimistic about tomorrow,” Keith said following Monday’s practice, in which he fully participated. “It felt good to be back out there with the guys, getting in some drills again. Things are definitely better.”
The other defense pairs were Niklas Hjalmarsson with Nick Leddy, and Sean O’Donnell with Sami Lepisto. The odd man out was Steve Montador.
At forward, Patrick Sharp and Michael Frolik were bumped up to the first line with Jonathan Toews while Daniel Carcillo was back with Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa.
Quenneville busted up the third line, using Andrew Brunette and Rostislav Olesz with Dave Bolland.
Olesz has been a healthy scratch for the last 11 games.
The fourth line at practice Monday consisted of Marcus Kruger between Viktor Stalberg and Jamal Mayers.
Bryan Bickell was the odd man out at forward.
Here comes trouble:Joel Quenneville would call this a dangerous game.The Hawks must play the Blues in their first game under new coach Ken Hitchcock, who took over Sunday when Davis Payne was fired.#147;Anytime the coach gets relieved or they bring in a new coach, the players are always fired up to play to show the new coach what each individual can bring to the game,#148; Duncan Keith said. #147;There#146;s always onus on players when a coach gets fired, so I#146;m sure they#146;re kind of looking at themselves.#147;We know it#146;s going to be a tough game. It always is against St. Louis no matter what#146;s going on.#148;Upon further review:About all those silly penalties the Hawks took in Sunday#146;s loss that allowed Vancouver to score 5 power-plays, Daniel Carcillo said they can#146;t continue to happen.#147;The ones at the end were unnecessary and dumb,#148; said Carcillo, who took 14 minutes in penalties in the third period, including minors for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct.Carcillo earned 21 of the team#146;s 34 penalty minutes.Look out below:Letting the Canucks to score 5 power-play goals dropped the Hawks out of the top 10 in the penalty-killing rankings to 22nd in the league Monday.