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Rundblad's relief role does not go well

ANAHIEM, Calif. - As playoff openers go, things couldn't have gone much worse for David Rundblad.

The Hawks' defenseman, playing in place of the injured Michal Rozsival (broken ankle) was directly involved in Anaheim's first 2 goals during the Ducks' 4-1 victory in the Western Conference finals Sunday.

"It's a game where he hasn't played in a long time," Duncan Keith said. "To be able to step in like that is not an easy thing to do."

Anaheim's first goal by defenseman Hampus Lindholm came at 8:48 of the first period after Rundblad failed to get his stick on an entry pass at the blue line.

Jakob Silfverberg tracked it down, spun toward the boards and passed it to Lindholm, who one-timed it past Corey Crawford. Adding insult to injury, Rundblad ended up getting pushed to the ice by Matt Beleskey, who was camped out in front of the net and obscuring Crawford's view.

The Ducks' second goal came seconds after Rundblad tried to chip the puck to Patrick Sharp deep in the Hawks' defensive zone. Kyle Palmieri deflected the pass attempt and then scored when the puck made its way back to him after bouncing off Crawford's right pad at the 4:17 mark of the second period.

Rundblad proceeded to shatter his stick after whacking it across the goal post.

"We want to make sure we make quick plays and safe plays, easy exits," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said when asked about Rundblad's play after the game. "Couple of those maybe you could do differently. Not an easy start, first playoff game and hadn't played for an extensive period."

Rundblad (10:47) and Kimmo Timonen (5:15) combined for just 16:02 of ice time as Keith (28:25), Brent Seabrook (26:57), Johnny Oduya (22:29) and Niklas Hjalmarsson (20:10) mostly saw their playing time increase in Rozsival's absence.

Power outage:

Failing to capitalize on any of their 3 power-play opportunities left a bitter taste in the Hawks' mouths, especially with 2 of them coming early in the third period of what was a 2-1 game. Overall, the Hawks managed just 5 shots on goal with the man advantage.

"They do a good job blocking shots," Duncan Keith said, "so we've got to find a way to get (pucks) through. … Power plays you've got to bear down and take advantage of those chances."

Tip-ins:

Joel Quenneville put Bryan Bickell on the first line with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa, and Brandon Saad on the second with Brad Richards and Patrick Kane for about half of the game. … Anaheim blocked 22 of the Hawks' shots. … Faceoffs were almost even with Anaheim winning 52 percent of the 79 draws. Brad Richards (10-for-17, 59 percent) was the most effective Hawk. … Anaheim has outscored its opponents 17-3 in the postseason. That plus-14 differential is 10 better than any other playoff team.

He said it:

"They're a good hockey team. I don't think by any means did we expect to steal and take wins from them. It's going to be a fight for us. We have to realize that this is the best team we've faced yet."

- Patrick Kane

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