Blackhawks Johnny Oduya suffered upper-body injury, expected to play in Game 4

Johnny Oduya is expected to play in Game 4 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning after suffering an upper-body injury in Game 3, Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville told reporters Tuesday.

"We'll see," Quenneville said about Oduya's status for Game 4. "I think he'll be all right."

Quenneville said Oduya suffered the injury prior to leaving the second period of Monday's 3-2 loss in Game 3. Oduya only took five shifts in the second, and only one after Nikita Kucherov went off for tripping him. He returned in the third and skated seven shifts, down from 11 shifts in the opening frame.

Oduya logged 16:47 on Monday, and has tallied five assists in 20 postseason games this spring.

The Hawks have relied heavily on their top four defenseman to take minutes: Duncan Keith (31:20), Brent Seabrook (26:29), Niklas Hjalmarsson (25:59) and Oduya (24:44). The loss to Michal Rozsival to injury, and that Kimmo Timonen wouldn't be able to play effectively left a hole in the lineup on the third pairing.

Kyle Cumiskey or David Rundblad or Timonen or Trevor van Riemsdyk, who made his postseason debut Monday, would be called up to fill in for Oduya, which would have been put the Hawks in a tougher position on the blue line.

But Oduya is back in, and Cumiskey and van Riemsdyk can remain the fifth and sixth defenseman.

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