"Coach Joel Quenneville acknowledged again that the Blackhawks will be watchful of the minutes defenseman Duncan Keith is logging early this season.

Keith surpassed 30 minutes for the sixth time in the first eight games in Wednesday's win against the Vancouver Canucks. He barely left the ice in overtime of the Hawks' 3-2 shootout win, playing 3:16 of the five-minute period.

Keith has played 241 minutes, 26 seconds -- by far the most in the NHL. As of Thursday, defensive partner Brent Seabrook was next at 209:38. Keith is averaging 30:10 a game, also a league high.

Is it hard to keep Keith off the ice?

''Yes,'' Quenneville said. ''We're down [Brian Campbell] on the back end, and he likes a lot of minutes. ... His minutes are a little higher than we like.

'You have to make sure he maintains his energy level between games. It's something you monitor. You'd like to have some days where he can take it off. We've only had one of those days. You have to try to win that game that's out there, and he gives us a good chance.''"