Defenseman Gary Suter did not play in Thursday night’s Game 4 after not skating since Tuesday night’s game.
Suter had played Tuesday less than two weeks after suffering a broken right hand, and as late as Thursday morning thought he would play again. The cast protecting his hand had broken during Tuesday’s game, and the new one apparently did not give him the mobility he felt he needed.
In the only other lineup change for the Blackhawks, Sergei Krivokrasov got his first start of the series, replacing Jim Cummins on a line with Jeff Shantz and Brent Sutter.
Candor: Although the Hawks were in a position to win all three of the previous games in their Western Conference final, some of the Hawks think that is misleading.
“I think we were outplayed in all three of the games,” said defenseman Chris Chelios. “We didn’t deserve to win any of them. We could have won, but we were outplayed.”
“At times it hasn’t been as close as you think,” agreed Bernie Nicholls. “Eddie played well. If it hadn’t been for him, it wouldn’t even have been close. We’ve played well in spurts. They’ve played well far more times than we have. They don’t play one good period and take two off.”
Devils-booster: It comes as no surprise to Nicholls that the New Jersey Devils, who had only the fifth-best record overall in the Eastern Conference, could be headed for the Stanley Cup finals.
Nicholls, who played for the Devils last year when they got to the seventh game of the conference finals, has said all year that New Jersey was the team to beat in the East.
The Devils were off to a crawling start, but, Nicholls said, “It’s so difficult for a team that came so close to get up for regular-season games. When it came playoff time I knew they’d be the best over there.”
Nicholls is rooting for the Devils to win, and of course, hoping the Hawks could come back to set up a meeting between his old and new teams for the Stanley Cup.
“No question I’ve got a lot of good friends there,” Nicholls said. “But they don’t need any help from me. They’ve got a great team that’s really deep.”