May 19--ANAHEIM, Calif. -- With the Blackhawks thin on blue-line depth after Michal Rozsival fractured his left ankle, coach Joel Quenneville relied heavily on his top four of Duncan Keith, Johnny Oduya, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against the Ducks.
Each played more than 20 minutes, with Keith leading the way at 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
The Ducks think those heavy minutes play right into their hands with their mission being to wear down the Hawks' defense with their physical play. They hope the effects will show up late in games and late in the series, should it go six or seven games.
"It's tough to play any team if you're going to finish and have 45 to 50 hits a night," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's not just those top four defensemen, it's whoever we play. That's our goal, to finish checks, finish checks, make it tough on them."
"Whether it's Duncan Keith or Hjalmarsson or any of them, I mean, it doesn't matter. Whoever's back there, it's our job to make it tough for them to get into the play."
Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said his team has an advantage in attacking the Hawks' defense.
"We have our four lines rolling and they can't match as much," Getzlaf said. "If they want to continue to play those same four guys, five guys, that's to our advantage down the stretch and in later stages of the series."
Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said the effects of the heavy minutes should start to show, regardless of what the Hawks say about their physical condition.
"For me, when I started to get up to 25, 26 minutes last year and the year before that, that was the point I could start feeling it a little bit," Fowler said. "It changes from player to player. It all depends on the type of game they play and how comfortable they are playing those big minutes."
For Game 2, coach Joel Quenneville may replace David Rundblad with Kyle Cumiskey in the sixth-defenseman slot, but Rundblad played only 10:47 on Sunday. Whether it's Rundblad or Cumiskey rounding out the defense, it's up to the top four to carry the load.
