Blackhawks' van Riemsdyk: 'Not one human can do all the things (Keith) does'
To a man, the Chicago Blackhawks' defensemen have gone on record by saying that no one player on the team can effectively duplicate the production of Duncan Keith.
Trevor van Riemsdyk went a bit further, telling CSN Chicago's Tracey Myers that "It'll be a collective effort because not one human can do all the things he does out there."
Well, van Riemsdyk tried his best by logging a career-high 22:34 of ice time in the Blackhawks' 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.
The contest was the first for Chicago without Keith, who was placed on long-term injured reserve on Wednesday after undergoing surgery to repair a meniscal tear in his knee the previous day. The reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner and two-time Norris Trophy recipient is expected to be sidelined four-to-six weeks.
Brent Seabrook, who is traditionally paired with Keith, scored a power-play goal early in the second period and notched his second assist by feeding Patrick Kane on a breakaway just 17 seconds into the third.
Seabrook logged a team-high 26 minutes of ice time, Niklas Hjalmarsson had 20:15 while fellow blue-liners Trevor Daley, Viktor Svedberg and David Rundblad also saw an increase in minutes.
"It was a team effort tonight and we're going to need that going forward," Seabrook told NHL.com following the win.
