CHICAGO -- Game 4 of this compelling Stanley Cup finals between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks is Wednesday night in Chicago, with no small amount of pressure on the home team as the Blackhawks trail the Lightning 2-1 in the series. Each team has won in the other team’s building in this series, and both teams have shown an incredible amount of resilience throughout the playoffs. Here are some things to watch for at the United Center.
Shuffling the deck chairs? We have been talking for much of the last two series about the Blackhawks’ lack of defensive depth and whether it might become an Achilles' heel as time goes along. After top-four defender Johnny Oduya was clipped by Nikita Kucherov in Game 3, he seemed to be in some considerable distress and did not play much after that. Oduya did not take the morning skate Wednesday, but Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said he expects Oduya to play, though his mobility on the ice will bear watching.
In other defensive news, Quenneville will go back to veteran Kimmo Timonen, who has been a healthy scratch for the past five games, in place of Kyle Cumiskey, who was on the ice for Tampa's game-winning goal in Game 3. The worst-case scenario is that Oduya does not play and Quenneville is left with three defensemen who have either little or no playoff experience (rookie Trevor van Riemsdyk), or in whom Quenneville has shown little confidence in key situations (Timonen, David Rundblad and/or Cumiskey). Only slightly less worse would be staying with the status quo. The Blackhawks’ top four defenders -- Oduya, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson -- already are being stretched against a speedy, determined Tampa team.
Quenneville will also go back to Kris Versteeg in place of the struggling Bryan Bickell, who played in Game 3 after missing the first two games of the finals with vertigo. Versteeg will likely play on a line with Brad Richards and Patrick Kane.
The Ben Bishop saga: UPDATED: 8 p.m. ET: Andrei Vasilevskiy will start in place of Bishop who is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
The Tampa Bay netminder was on the ice Wednesday morning, and there is nothing to suggest he won’t start in Game 4, although coach Jon Cooper said there is the same “holding pattern” regarding Bishop’s availability after his exit from Game 2 for undisclosed reasons.
There is no doubt that Bishop’s mobility was affected in Game 4, even though he was solid in turning aside 36 of 38 Chicago shots to earn the victory. Will that change in Game 4? Is whatever ailing him getting better? Or is the mystery ailment also in a holding pattern? Bishop seemed to have difficulty at times regaining his feet and moving laterally across the net. Not that it had any impact on his level of play or the outcome, which is all that really matters at this stage of the playoffs.
Still, all eyes will be on Bishop from the get-go in Game 4. Quenneville said he’d like to see more traffic in front of the big netminder and more shots directed at the net. “He did a good job, but I thought we made it relatively easy on him,” Quenneville said.
Big stars, low light: One of the major storylines so far in the series has been the lack of production from some of the game’s most talented players. Chicago's Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane and Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos have combined for one assist in three games. Kane has one goal in his last six playoff games.
It’s not as if the three stars haven’t had their chances. They have, but the proof is in the score sheet right now. Toews and Kane have historically shown an uncanny ability to elevate their game and produce at the most crucial times for the Blackhawks, though, and there's no time like the present. Stamkos has also struggled lately, with zero points in his last five games. The Lightning are getting good scoring from the third line of Ryan Callahan, Cedric Paquette and J.T. Brown. The line had two goals -- including the game winner -- in Game 3, but Stamkos has to find a way to produce more if the Lightning are going to close out the Blackhawks in the coming days.
'Home' is a relative term: The fact that the Blackhawks are really good at the United Center shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. They are 7-2 at home this spring, although one of those losses came Monday night against Tampa. Which leads us to Tampa’s uncanny ability to produce away from its home at Amalie Arena.
The Bolts are 8-3 on the road and are playing with a high degree of confidence. That confidence seems to have more than compensated for any disadvantage they’ve had in not being able to make the last line change and get the matchups they like.
“When your team is rolling, you don't want to disrupt the apple cart,” Cooper said Wednesday morning. “Believe me, I'm the last one to sit here and overthink the game. Boys are rolling, you let them go.”
Pit the Bolts’ surging confidence and the fact that they’re just two wins from their second-ever Stanley Cup against the fact that the Blackhawks are 40-14 in playoff series from Game 4 on under Quenneville, and you can see what a battle of wills Wednesday’s clash will be.
“During playoffs, pretty much every game is must-win,” said Chicago forward Marcus Kruger. “Same thing tonight. But you know what, you can only worry about one game at a time, and that’s what we’re going to do here; we’re going to play a good game tonight.”
PROJECTED LINES
Lightning
Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn - Valtteri Filppula - Steven Stamkos
J.T. Brown - Cedric Paquette - Ryan Callahan
Victor Hedman - Anton Stralman
Jason Garrison - Braydon Coburn
Blackhawks
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa
Kris Versteeg - Brad Richards - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Antoine Vermette - Teuvo Teravainen
Andrew Desjardins - Marcus Kruger - Andrew Shaw
Duncan Keith – Niklas Hjalmarsson
Trevor van Riemsdyk – Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya – Kimmo Timonen
