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Chicago Blackhawks' Kane, Toews fine with heavy workload

Since Jeremy Colliton took over as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, he has asked Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to carry a heavy load.

So much so that both superstars are going to likely set career highs for ice time, with Kane ranking third in the league among forwards at 22½ minutes per game and Toews 14th at 20:59.

Ask either one if fatigue is catching up to them, though, and they're both adamant that it's not.

"We all realize these are our playoffs right now," Toews said after the Hawks practiced Wednesday at MB Ice Arena ahead of their home game Thursday against Buffalo. "We have some guys in this room aside from myself that are getting a lot of ice time and a lot of pressure and have seen some tough, heavy games and never really make excuses.

"I don't think fatigue should be an excuse."

Perhaps not. Still, it's tough to ignore the numbers.

Kane has played fewer than 20 minutes just five times in Colliton's 51 games as coach. Eight times Kane has played more than 25 minutes - and none of those games went to overtime.

Toews, meanwhile, has played 20-plus minutes in 22 of the last 23 games.

All of this ice time may have contributed to Kane producing just 1 goal over the last four games, and Toews scoring just once in the last six.

"We've been riding them pretty hard," Colliton said. "That's how we got into the position we were in when we were close to a playoff spot. They were coming through and they were playing a lot."

With all of this in mind, Colliton made several drastic changes to his forward lines Wednesday. Chief among them were putting:

• Brandon Saad and John Hayden with Toews.

• Dominik Kahun and Kane with Artem Anisimov.

• Alex DeBrincat and Brendan Perlini with Dylan Strome.

• Chris Kunitz and Marcus Kruger with David Kampf.

This was Kampf's first practice since suffering a foot injury against Edmonton on Feb. 5. Kampf will play, and we will see these lines deployed to start the game against the Sabres.

Just like Toews, Kane wasn't complaining about fatigue.

"I feel good," said Kane, still second in the NHL with 94 points and third in goals with 40. "I was playing good there for a while; didn't have a great trip obviously but still feel pretty confident about my game.

"It's not like I really feel tired or anything out there. When they tell me to go out there I will."

As for the playoff picture, it looks awfully bleak as the Hawks are in 12th place in the West and 9 points behind Minnesota, which is in the second wild-card spot.

With only 16 games remaining, that looks to be an awfully tough mountain to scale.

But Kane and Toews aren't about to give up.

"We're confident," Toews said. "We know we're still playing with a lot of purpose (and) if we have a good week coming up, things can flip the other way. All we can do is focus on the things we can control and that's getting a win tomorrow night and going from there."

Scouting report

Blackhawks vs. Buffalo Sabres, 7:30 p.m., Thursday, at the United Center

TV: NBCSCH • Radio: WGN 720-AM

The skinny: Buffalo (30-28-8) is 2-7-1 in its last 10 games and has allowed 22 goals in the last five games. … Jeff Skinner (36) and Jack Eichel (25) are the Sabres' leading goal scorers, but Skinner has not scored in nine straight games. Eichel has 10 goals and 13 assists in the last 20 contests. Rookie D-man Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 pick of last June's draft, has 8 goals and 29 assists. … Buffalo has gone 13-for-47 (27.6 percent) on the power play over the last 16 games. The Hawks won 7-3 at Buffalo on Feb. 1. Patrick Kane had 2 goals and 2 assists, and Brandon Saad added 2 goals.

Next: Dallas Stars, 7 p.m. Saturday at American Airlines Center

- John Dietz

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