Blackhawks’ Seabrook admits it’s been a struggle

Brent Seabrook played only 12 minutes and three seconds Thursday in Game 4 and got 21 seconds of power-play time.

What’s up with that?

“I don’t really want to talk about that,” Seabrook said Friday when asked about his lack of playing time.

The Blackhawks defenseman, who averaged 21:59 of ice time during the regular season, was later asked if this series has been a struggle for him personally.

“Yep,” Seabrook said.

Coach Joel Quenneville hinted that Seabrook would get more ice time in Game 5 on Saturday, perhaps even reunited with longtime partner Duncan Keith, and that his lack of playing time in Game 4 was based mostly on matchups.

“We’ve been looking at the pairings across the board, whether we’re looking at more even minutes, but more so the matchups were why their minutes were down last game,” Quenneville said of Seabrook and partner Nick Leddy, who saw only 8:38 of ice time.

But later Quenneville didn’t deny that at least part of Seabrook’s benching was performance based.

“I think as a team usually it’s a reflection of your performance, your contribution,” Quenneville said. “Sometimes your minutes are higher in games and stretches of games. Sometimes it’s earned and sometimes there’s hope to get more, too.”

The power play is 1-for-12 in the series and has looked out of whack at best. The Hawks are 0 for their last 11.

“You want to be out in key situations,” Seabrook said. “It’s a big part of the game and it’s been struggling. I’ve been on it and I haven’t produced.”

Quenneville thinks the key to the power play starts with winning faceoffs, which the Hawks haven’t done much of this series.

“It starts with winning faceoffs,” he said. “We talked about shots with traffic. We feel shots with traffic is the best way on the power play instead of the perfect play because they’re checking well.”

Change it up:Joel Quenneville refused to admit that his line switching Thursday in Game 4 pretty much was a failure.#147;We haven#146;t changed too much with the lines,#148; he said. #147;The majority of guys have played with each other over the course of the season, whether it#146;s two guys on a line or one adjustment here and there.#147;We don#146;t necessarily visit changing when things are going well, and this year that#146;s kind of been the case. We#146;ve tried a few adjustments here to spark our offense. Certainly we felt over the last few games it#146;s been a little sparse.#148;Toews vs. Zetterberg:So far in this series Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg has managed to get the best of Jonathan Toews.#147;I guess I#146;m not as worried about him as much as maybe you guys think I should be,#148; Toews said. #147;He#146;s a good player. Obviously, we try to limit his scoring chances, but I#146;m still getting chances.#147;He#146;s doing a great job of playing smart defensive hockey, but that doesn#146;t mean I#146;m not getting chances and getting to the net. Those chances are coming and at some point they#146;ve got to go in. I keep telling myself that.#148;Red Wings surprised:It#146;s hard to find someone who didn#146;t pick the Hawks to win this series after the regular season they had. Even Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard admitted he would have picked the Hawks if he were a journalist.#147;You know, I think if I were in your shoes, I probably would have done the same thing,#148; Howard told the Detroit Free Press. #147;They had an unbelievable year this year. They were playing great hockey coming into the playoffs. They#146;re a great team.#148;