"Forget about four-line balance or even an assigned checking line. Coach Joel Quenneville has no other options but to empower his top two lines with all his top weapons.

As much as the Blackhawks have to defend better, they have to score, too. And Quenneville isn't going to end the Hawks' puck-possession style any time soon.

"I'm not so worried about our puck-possession game," Quenne-ville said Wednesday before the Hawks left Denver for San Jose, Calif. "It's more of our defending. I think if we defended better, we'd have the puck more.""