Hawks need more than Brouwer, Bickell

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Maybe it’s unfair to single out Troy Brouwer and Bryan Bickell when it comes to the Blackhawks’ lack of consistent physical play, but that is one of the key parts of their job description as two of the biggest forwards on the team.

“Me being one of the bigger guys in the lineup, I have to finish every hit and try to be a physical presence,” Bickell said before Game 2 at Rogers Arena.

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville even singled out Brouwer and Bickell on Thursday for how they had to play more physical than in the series opener, but he backed off a little before Friday’s game.

“It’s not just them,” Quenneville said. “I think everybody has got to bring that part of their game and don’t be influenced by where you want to be or where you want to go around the ice no matter what’s going on. Everybody has got to be a little more engaged in the physicality of the game.”

The Hawks have been called a soft team on more than one occasion this season, to which Quenneville is quick to defend his group.

“When you talk about the lineup we’ve played with all year long, we have a competitive team and we have some different assets that make us successful,” Quenneville said. “We want to be hard to play against.”

But wanting to be a tough team to play against and being hard to play against are two different things.

Brouwer questioned being credited with no hits in Game 1, but even if he got shortchanged, the zero wasn’t far off.

“I think there was a few hits that may have sneaked through the cracks in the statisticians’ eyes, but that’s how it goes,” Brouwer said. “I can initiate. I can get in and get in the dirty areas and get in the battles. Maybe it was feeling it out at the beginning of last game. I can get in there and I can battle and I have to do more of that.”

Brouwer is a playoff veteran, but there were five Hawks making their postseason debuts Wednesday, which could have contributed to some timid play.

“There were some conversations and talk before the game, but there’s only so much you can say,” Patrick Sharp said. “Everyone in our locker room is a fan of the game and have watched playoff hockey and they know everything kicks up a notch and it’s that much more intense.

“It’s something you have to experience for yourself. I think the guys that made their debuts did just fine.”

The Hawks went into Game 2 knowing they needed more from the third and fourth lines.

“To win in the playoffs your role players, your third and fourth lines, need to carry you through a lot of your games,” Brouwer said. “Our team needs to pick it up.”

That’s especially true when the better players are being checked more closely.

“Sometimes that’s what it’s going to come down to,” Jonathan Toews said. “We’re focusing on their best players and they’re doing the same thing.”