Can playoff experience rescue Blackhawks in Game 3?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - There's no substitute for experience in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Players who have a ton of it - like eight different Blackhawks with 100 or more postseason games on their resumes - can look back at how they dug out of some dire circumstances and managed to come out on top.

Few circumstances in the Joel Quenneville era have been more dire than the one the Hawks faced Monday night during Game 3 as they trailed Nashville two games to none in their best-of-seven series.

The question is, can the Hawks draw on their experience and climb out of this hole?

"Well, obviously experience helps, but I think they have quite a bit of experience too," said Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell. "A lot of their guys have been around that organization for a while.

"It's nice to have in your back pocket, but for us experience isn't going to change what we've done in the past two games. We've got to come out and be ready for (Game 3) - it's the biggest game, obviously, of the season for us."

Of course, on the other side of the spectrum are guys like Ryan Hartman, Tanner Kero, Vinnie Hinostroza, John Hayden, Dennis Rasmussen and Nick Schmaltz, all of whom hadn't played in a single postseason game at the NHL level before this series began. Others such as Trevor van Riemsdyk, Richard Panik, Artemi Panarin and Tomas Jurco had played in 11 or fewer games.

"I think everyone learns to deal with it," Jonathan Toews said. "And the young guys are just maybe getting their feet under them and understanding that now we can be loose, we can go out there and play the way we know we can play and try to put the pressure on them in their building."

Niklas Hjalmarsson said Sunday that it's time for the veterans to put up or shut up.

"It's more up to (those of) us who have been here for a long time to just lead with a good example, to lead the way out there on the ice," Hjalmarsson said. "To do some game-changing stuff and … not really talk too much anymore."

Next question:

Ryan Hartman wanted nothing to do with two questions about his 10-minute misconduct penalty that he earned by punching Craig Smith at the end of Game 2 while Smith lay prone on the ice.

"I'm just talking about Game 3 here," Hartman said. "We need to come ready to play."

Hartman did vow not to change the hard-nosed style of play that helped him lead the team in penalty minutes (70) and finish second in hits (121).

"We're just going to try to win this one and I'm going to play the same way," Hartman said. "I'm not really going to change anything."

Slap shots:

When Pekka Rinne registered 2 assists in Game 2, he became the first goaltender to accomplish that feat since 2004 when Montreal's Jose Theodore pulled it off in Game 3 of the 2004 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against Boston. … Before Monday, Rinne was 7-3-1 with 3 shutouts, a 1.27 goals-against average and .954 save percentage in his last 11 games. … Since 2009, the Hawks are 2-5 in series in which they've fallen behind by two games at any point.

He said it:

"Crow's been fine. You can't blame the goalie after two games when we haven't found a way to score ourselves."

Joel Quenneville on if he considered starting Scott Darling in net for Game 3 instead of Corey Crawford.