Matchups don't matter to Hawks

SAN JOSE, Calif. - With the kind of depth the Blackhawks have at forward, many times it doesn't matter how the matchups fall into place.

That was the case Sunday afternoon in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals when Hawks coach Joel Quenneville had a tough time getting his checking line of Dave Bolland, Andrew Ladd and Kris Versteeg on the ice against San Jose's big line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley.

It was clear Sharks coach Todd McLellan, owning the last change at home, wanted the Thornton line out against Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa and Troy Brouwer.

But in the end it didn't matter to the Hawks, who got goals from Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien on the Toews line in their 2-1 victory at HP Pavilion.

"With Bolly, we were trying to work on that matchup all night and it wasn't easy," Quenneville said. "Sometimes you're going to be exposed to not the perfect matchup when you're on the road. At the end of the day we had to work for the matchups tonight."

However, there was the constant of Quenneville getting defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook on the ice against the Thornton line - and the Hawks' stars responded with huge efforts.

Keith played 27 minutes and was plus-2 with 3 blocked shots, while Seabrook had 5 hits and 5 blocks in 24 minutes, mostly against Thornton, Marleau and Heatley.

The Thornton line didn't have a point 5-on-5 and was a combined minus-6.

"We tried to play them as hard as we could," Seabrook said. "Against them you just want to play your game with good sticks. They were getting some opportunities, but Antti (Niemi) came up huge and saved our butts a couple times."

McLellan, for the most part, was pleased with the matchups he got against Thornton.

"We did get our big boys on the ice sometimes against their fourth line," McLellan said. "There were times when we got what we wanted, but we just couldn't find a way to finish."

Quenneville got the best of McLellan on the game's key sequence late in the third period with the score tied 1-1 and a faceoff to the left of Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov.

Quenneville put out Toews, Kane and Byfuglien against Thornton, Heatley and Marleau, and the three Hawks outworked San Jose's big guns for the winning goal by Byfuglien with 6:45 to play.

"I think Johnny's line, when they're out there in the offensive zone, they can make plays and have patience with the puck," Quenneville said.

"You're still comfortable with Johnny against anybody."

The Hawks struggled on faceoffs Sunday, winning only 43 percent, but Quenneville had confidence Toews would beat Thornton.

"Johnny was above .500, one of the few guys tonight, and you don't want to deny offensive opportunities for those guys," Quenneville said.

McLellan didn't mind Thornton out there against Toews at that point, even though Thornton now is minus-8 for the playoffs.

"He has been put in that situation all year," McLellan said. "We have played our big players against the other team's top lines and they have been successful, so I feel very comfortable with them on the ice in that situation."