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Blues' Hitchcock also upset with Bickell

A day after Ken Hitchcock vented about Saturday's knee-to-knee hit by Bryan Bickell on Vladimir Sobotka, a hit that resulted in a penalty for Bickell, the Blues coach accused Bickell of doing something similar to Alex Pietrangelo earlier in the game.

"The hit on Sobotka, there was a similar hit on (Pietrangelo) in the first period that was really concerning by the same player," Hitchcock said. "When you're leg-whipping people, it's a concern because that's career-ending. That's something you don't want to see on either side.

"That's a big concern for me, the safety of the players. That part bothers me more than … the (Brent Seabrook) hit on (David) Backes is a hit that went awry, but the hit on Sobotka was a continuation of what happened to Petro in the first period."

Looking for improvement:

There's no arguing that Corey Crawford has at times been stellar in this series, but the fact remains the Blackhawks goalie has twice allowed game-tying goals in the final minutes - and seconds, for that matter.

Coach Joel Quenneville indicated Sunday that he's looking for more out of Crawford, who has a .904 save percentage and a 2.89 goals-against average.

"He said he needs to be better," Quenneville said, "and he needs to be better."

One or the other?

The age-old question for the Hawks in a series like this: Is it possible to be physical and still be able to run your offense?

"Obviously, if you have the puck more, you're going to be less physical because they're chasing you," veteran Michal Handzus said. "But they're a pretty strong puck-possession team, too, so there's going to be times when they have the puck and we don't, and the physicality's going to take over."

Handzus liked what he saw from the Hawks in that department after a rough start to Game 2.

"You need to play physical and you've got to push back right away," he said. "I thought when we did we started playing better and had the puck more, too, and won more battles. We've got to just keep doing that."

He said it:

"I thought Johnny was outstanding (Saturday) and Kaner was outstanding in the first game. I've been very happy with the way they've played."

- Joel Quenneville on the play of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane since returning to the lineup for the playoffs

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