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Dose: Fresh Legs?

james o'brien
The Thursday Dose looks at the Penguins taking a 3-1 series lead while the Ducks evened their series at 2 apiece with an OT win

Sometimes I have a lot of things to say about transactions (I forgot to mention Andrew Hammond’s signing in Thursday’s Dose, sorry about that*) and the state of the game. This is one of those times when I instead cannot help but shrug and just say “hockey.”


More specifically, I don’t have a lengthy preamble, yet I present a good variety of hockey thoughts in the recap itself, so enjoy.


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DUCKS 2, BLACKHAWKS 1


-- So, Coach Q made some rather puzzling tweaks from the Game 2 marathon to Game 3.


In went Kris Versteeg and Joakim Nordstrom, out came Teuvo Teravainen and Antoine Vermette.


The number one thing to note here is that you never know when an injury (or two) is involved. After all, coaches might not always tell the press everything. (Shocking, I know.)


On its face, it's a puzzling decision, though. Q explained it as needing "fresh legs," which seems especially odd in Teravainen's case because he's ... you know, 20. His 22:17 TOI was a lot for him with the 'Hawks, but that's still not a crazy amount of time on ice.


It's tougher to tell with Vermette. The one thing I know for sure: this has been a real bust of a contract year.


-- Some wonder if Marcus Kruger is hurt. (He took a ridiculous hit in that marathon Game 2, but managed to score the overtime winner.)


If Kruger is hurt and Vermette isn't, then it says a lot about how Joel Quenneville feels about both forwards.


-- Holy smokes, that Patrick Kane goal. He shot a no-look (or at least peripheral vision-only) backhander with just a small window of time in which he wasn't bothered, and even got a little air under it. The only shot that beat Frederik Andersen was a pretty sublime - if relatively subtle - showing of skill.


-- Andersen continues to be brilliant, winning 10 of 12 postseason games so far while generating an impressive .935 save percentage.


-- Ryan Getzlaf assisted on both of Anaheim's goals, giving him four helpers in the past three games.


-- The Ducks went 1-for-1 on the power play. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, failed on five chances, and looked pretty stilted at times. It was especially bad when Jonathan Toews drew a double-minor as a high stick drew blood from him. It was a remarkably ineffective four minutes.


-- The Simon Despres - Ben Lovejoy trade never really stops being goofy from the Penguins’ end. Jim Rutherford isn’t an outright awful GM, yet it’s starting to feel like the league’s getting smarter, so every executive who still lags behind really gets under the spotlight.


-- Chicago's big guns weren't exactly rested. Duncan Keith logged 28:04 TOI. Brent Seabrook played even more, as he came in just under 29 minutes.


Kyle Cumiskey (8:51) and Kimmo Timonen (6:50) were also planted firmly to the bench, so while we can quibble over smaller lineup issues, the bigger picture remains the same. And it doesn't illustrate an easy path for the Blackhawks.


For a full list of injuries and suspensions, click here. Go to Rotoworld's NHL page for breaking hockey news and more.


* - Ottawa is weird. They sure love to sign their goalies to contract extensions. Thus concludes my hot takes on this matter.