More : | | | | | Having to play Game 4 of the Western Conference finals without -- suspended for his Game 3 slash on -- was going to be only part of the problem for the on Thursday night.The other part was that they were going to have to rely on to replace him in the lineup.Dennis Dodd Nothing personal against Brookbank, as he has put together a solid career for himself appearing in more than 300 NHL games, but the simple fact is he was going to be in over his head against the defending Stanley Cup champions in a conference finals game. Once the puck dropped on Thursday night it became pretty obvious this was going to be a problem for Chicago.Incredibly, it still didn't prevent the Blackhawks from going into Staples Center and handing the their first home lo s of the postseason with a 3-2 victory to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.Given that they were playing with pretty much five defensemen for the night, that's pretty impre sive. And why were they playing with just five defenseman? Because Brookbank logged only 6:50 of ice time Adolis Garcia Jersey and struggled mightily in all of them. Western Conference finals He played only five shifts during the final two periods, and when he was on the ice at even-strength, bad things were happening for the Blackhawks. They were outshot 8-2, outscored 2-0, and Brookbank seemed to be at the center of all of it. (Just for comparisons sake, in the even-strength minutes played without Brookbank, they outshot LA 22-10 and outscored them 3-0).After the second goal the Kings scored against the Blackhawks early in the second period, coach Joel Quenneville gave him only four more shifts the rest of the night and shortened his bench. And the short-handed Blackhawks managed to take over and take complete control of the game, as more importantly, the series.NHL Grades Following Marian Ho sa's go-ahead goal just a minute into the third period, Chicago completely smothered the Los Angeles offense and allowed the Kings to record only two shots on goal, including only one during the final 15 minutes. That included a power-play opportunity with le s than five minutes to play in regulation where the Kings attempted only two shots (both were blocked) and managed to give up a short-handed chance to . In the end, it was a pretty incredible effort by the Blackhawks without their best defenseman, on the road, against the defending champs.To be able to put together such a complete effort without such a key player is a pretty big statement by the Blackhawks.It's also perhaps a knockout punch to the Kings. Walter Pennington Jersey