EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Blackhawks will get a considerable boost up the middle as Andrew Shaw is slated to return to the lineup for Game 3 at Staples Center on Saturday.
The 22-year-old center has missed the last seven games with a lower-body injury, last playing in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals against Minnesota. Shaw brings yet another element of speed to already fast Blackhawks lineup and will provide depth up the middle, likely on the third line with Brandon Saad and Kris Versteeg.
"We're happy to have Shawsy back," said Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville. "He's been there mostly all year, so that's where he's at."
"Pretty excited," Shaw said of his return. "A long wait, long recovery. I know it was only three weeks but it feels like a couple of months."
Shaw provides traffic in front of the opposing goaltender and his ability to get to the net has been an integral part of the Blackhawks' power play game. Before getting injured, he scored two goals and had two assists and scored 20 with 19 assists in the regular season. Shaw is extremely high-energy and is well rested after the Blackhawks kept him out of Game 2 as a precautionary measure, although he felt he could have been back three games ago.
"Obviously I was telling myself I was going to play the next game, but you say that and you get out there and its a different story," he said. "Just want to get tomorrow's game started."
Peter Regin will be the likely odd man out, as he has skated on the line with Saad and Versteeg.
"Somebody has to come out," Regin said. "If I'm in that mix I'll just have to deal with it and stay positive and be ready to play if I get a chance again. That's the only thing you can do."
Short-term memory loss
Goaltender Corey Crawford checked out of the third period like the rest of his teammates after the Kings' onslaught of goals pushed Game 2 out of reach. How does he move on? He just does. According to Kings' head coach Darryl Sutter, elite goalies like Crawford and Kings net-minder Jonathan Quick don't dwell on bad games.
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"Both goalies are back-to-back Stanley Cup winners. They're not going to struggle with one shift of that," Sutter said. "Both of them are guaranteed prepared to play all night to win a hockey game."
Crawford has already put it behind him. There hasn't been any lingering feelings since Wednesday night.
"Maybe a little bit after the game," he said. "There are things I can fix easily. There were a couple of mistakes in my game that just doesn't happen. [I'll] look over it with the goalie coach and try to adjust from what I did wrong."
"He's a good goalie," L.A. defenseman Willie Mitchell said. "Good goalies just park it and move on to the next one."
No holes in this game
For the foreseeable future, Randy's Donuts will no longer feature a giant dounut on top of the store. The L.A. landmark in Inglewood will convert to a hockey puck starting Saturday.
"The donut and the L.A. Kings are both extremely recognizable in our community," said Kings' President of Business Operations Luc Robitaille. "We believe it is a great match and our fans will have fun with it during this exciting time."
