Hossa shuffled to unfamiliar spot on third line

Answer: The 1985 Bears crew, cards at a blackjack table and Blackhawks' lines.

Question: Name three things that are always shuffling.

In a never-ending search for productivity, chemistry and a better compete level, Hawks coach Joel Quenneville was up to his mix-and-match best again Saturday during practice at Johnny's IceHouse.

No surprise there.

But what did raise a few eyebrows was that Quenneville had Marian Hossa skating on the third line alongside Marcus Kruger and Ben Smith.

"That could be our best line," Quenneville explained afterward, "so, you know."

Hossa, who has just 6 points through 14 games and has - uncharacteristically - been sent to the penalty box three times in the last two games, admitted it was kind of odd to be on the outside looking in at his usual top-6 spot.

"You can say that," Hossa said. "But I just do my usual thing and obviously Joel is trying to find some chemistry. I've played on a third line before, so I'll just try to do whatever it takes.

"First of all I'd like more from myself offensively. Things are not going as I'd like, but you know, sometimes things happen like that and you just face it and deal with it."

With Smith joining Hossa on the third line, Kris Versteeg was elevated to the top line alongside Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Bryan Bickell, Andrew Shaw and Brandon Saad skated together on the second line, while Jeremy Morin, Brad Richards and Peter Regin made up the fourth line.

"It's a coaches' decision," Hossa said of the new combinations. "We just have to accept it and be ready for our next game."

The Hawks were still reeling from Friday night's game against Washington where they saw a 2-0 lead - and a victory - evaporate in front of their very eyes over a five-minute span at the end of the second period.

"That's really uncharacteristic and unusual," Hossa said of the implosion in the 3-2 loss. "I'm sure the coaches aren't happy and they're trying to find different chemistry."

Correcto.

"We lost three home games in a row; totally unacceptable how you give away 6 points," Quenneville said. "We feel we probably should have 6 points in all those games."

Thus more line changes in order to get the compete level to where it should be for a team with such high expectations.

"Yeah, it could probably be better, that's for sure," Patrick Kane admitted. "I think sometimes you play in these playoff series, there's so much at stake ... sometimes you come back to the regular season and the games don't mean as much, which isn't the way it should be at all. It's the total opposite.

"The regular season should be so important to get yourself in that position to have that chance of accomplishing something. Obviously, we're not doing that right now.

"We've got to figure it out here sooner rather than later."