Keith suspended for Game 4

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

If the Blackhawks are going to end the Los Angeles Kings’ perfect postseason on home ice in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, they’ll have to do it without their top defenseman.

Duncan Keith will sit out today under a one-game suspension for high-sticking Los Angeles’ Jeff Carter. Keith hit Carter with a one-handed blow in the second period of the Kings’ 3-1 victory in Game 3, opening a 20-stitch gash on the star forward’s face and cracking three of his teeth.

Chicago has a 2-1 series lead and could take control with a win in Game 4, but the uncertainty of Keith’s fate hung over both teams’ practices. Keith is enormously important to the powerful Blackhawks, easily leading the club in ice time and ranking third in playoff scoring with 10 points.

Sheldon Brookbank, the likely candidate to take Keith’s place in the Blackhawks’ lineup, hasn’t played in the postseason.

“It’s been our strength pretty much all season, our depth on our blue line,” Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said before the suspension was announced. “So whatever happens with that, I think we’re going to be all right. I’m sure if something happens, Brookbank is going to come in and play good. All of the D-men have to step up a little more if that happens.”

Keith, whose ungloved hand was nearly slashed by Carter an instant earlier, got a double minor penalty for his high stick, but was allowed to stay in Game 3. Keith had a hearing with the NHL’s department of player safety Wednesday, but spent the day uneasily waiting for a decision.

“I said my piece,” Keith said before the suspension. “Said the same thing last night, that it was an accident, and I didn’t mean to get him where I got him.”

Keith is classified by the NHL as a repeat offender — a factor in suspension decisions — after elbowing Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin in the head late last season. San Jose’s Raffi Torres, another repeat offender, was suspended for the rest of the second round after an illegal hit on Los Angeles’ Jarret Stoll in the opener of the clubs’ seven-game series.