April 21--The Chicago Blackhawks expect to face an ornery Nashville Predators squad when the teams take the ice for Game 4 of the Western Conference quarterfinals Tuesday night at the United Center.
The Hawks hold a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series and can take command if they can follow their Game 3 victory Sunday afternoon. During that 4-2 win, the Hawks clamped down defensively after grabbing the lead early in the second period.
"We have to continue to play the way we did defensively last game," defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said following the Hawks' morning skate at the UC. "We were checking really well and helped our goalie out and did a better job of just not allowing Nashville to get great opportunities against us. Hopefully, we can keep doing that and add a little bit more offense as well."
The Hawks are expected to keep the same lineup as Game 3, which would mean Daniel Carcillo, Kyle Cumiskey, Joakim Nordstrom, Michael Paliotta, Teuvo Teravainen and Antti Raanta would be scratched.
Coach Joel Quenneville wants to see more from his team in Game 4.
"I still think we need to be better in areas," Quenneville said. "We can be better with the puck and we can be smarter without it as well. We're going to need to be our best (Tuesday night). Game 3 was the better of our games. We have to continue to think we have to be improved in certain areas. We feel we'll have the toughest game we've faced all year. Let's be ready for a fast start."
Predators coach Peter Laviolette was non-committal on whether veteran center Mike Fisher (lower body) would play. Captain Shea Weber remains sidelined with a lower-body injury.
