April 29--At Wednesday's practice the Blackhawks spent a significant amount of time working on special teams, and with good reason.
Both the penalty kill and power play were less than the Hawks desired in their series against the Predators.
The power play converted just 15.8 percent of chances, good for ninth of 16 playoff teams, while the penalty kill was at 72.7 percent (13th).
"Every game was different," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We didn't get a ton of power play opportunities, we don't expect to get a ton in this series. But we want to make sure we are generating something on our power play."
Of vital importance is the penalty kill, a leaky unit against the Predators. The Wild enter the series having converted 33.3 percent of their power-play opportunities in the playoffs, that's first in the NHL.
"Our penalty killing has got to be better," Quenneville said. "Some of the goals, I think, (there were) some of the things that in the past we don't give up those type of goals. It's something that we've got to rectify from our last series."
The Hawks' lines remained the same as they did from Monday's practice, with Kris Versteeg in a white jersey.
Brandon Saad-Jonathan Toews-Marian Hossa
Bryan Bickell-Brad Richards-Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp-Antoine Vermette-Teuvo Teravainen
Andrew Desjardins-Marcus Kruger-Andrew Shaw.
