The Blackhawks’ top four defensemen’s minutes kept creeping up as the game wore on: 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes and, for one, nearly 50 minutes.
The main reason for the insane minutes, obviously, was the triple-overtime game; when the Blackhawks beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 on Tuesday night, they played their longest game in franchise history.
Still, Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Johnny Oduya and Brent Seabrook were expected to play more with the altered, Michal Rozsival-absent defense. Kimmo Timonen is still struggling to play a lot and Kyle Cumiskey played in his first NHL postseason game in five years on Tuesday.