NHL

Bolland accumulated six penalty minutes on Monday. "Yeah, [it was] one of those nights ' tough night," Quenneville said. "Certainly, [you] can't take three [penalties]. I think you got to be smarter about it when you do take one, that maybe you [don't] put yourself in that spot again." Bolland also had a minus-one rating and won just one of eight faceoffs.

The Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, and now Boston Bruins have all seemed to have success shutting down Toews. He had 29 points in 22 games when the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010, but has just nine points in 20 contests in the 2013 playoffs.

"I think as we progress, it's tough to get to double-digits (in scoring opportunities)," coach Joel Quenneville said. "It's a tight game and scoring is going to be really challenging. But we've got to be ready to play that kind of game. Let's look to get that first goal and try to sustain it." The Blackhawks feel like they've been making it too easy on Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask lately. Boston has a 2-1 series lead going into Wednesday's contest.

Smith was inserted into the lineup when Marian Hossa was ruled out due to an upper body injury. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville knew Hossa might not be available, but he kept Smith out of the pregame warm-up in an effort to avoid tipping his hand. "He didn't really have the typical game-day preparation. I don't know if he had a nap or a decent meal. He just came in, put his skates on and jumped into the Stanley Cup Final," Patrick Sharp said of Smith. "For a guy who works as hard as Benny does, to be rewarded like that, and I thought he played great." Smith is likely to play again if Hossa is unavailable for Game 4.

That's what they did after their rough 2-0 loss on Monday. "Some of us needed a way to put our gears in neutral," Bryan Bickell explained. He considers himself to be one of the team's top Kart players, along with Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook. The Blackhawks are down 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final going into Game 4 on Wednesday.

"I think you play until you can't play anymore," said Amonte who used Nathan Horton, who is playing through a shoulder injury, as an example. Amonte said he heard that Hossa told the training staff he couldn't play after testing his upper-body injury during the warmup and it clearly irked him. "You just don't see guys do things like that in the NHL," he said. "It sounds like it came out of nowhere." Hossa is considered "likely" to play in Game 4 though, according to Hawks coach Joel Quenneville.

Hossa was a last-minute scratch Monday night, but judging by Quenneville's comments after the game and this afternoon it sounds like he was doubtful to suit up in Game 3. Ben Smith, who took Hossa's place in the lineup, didn't warmup because Quenneville didn't want to tip his hand. If Hossa returns for Game 4, expect Smith to find himself in the press box again.