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Julien: ‘We need to educate our players to protect themselves better’

Boston Bruins v Buffalo Sabres

BUFFALO, NY - OCTOBER 18: Head coach Claude Julien of the Boston Bruins watches the action against the Buffalo Sabres on October 18, 2014 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images)

NHLI via Getty Images

The Blackhawks extended their win streak to eight games and rookie defenseman Klas Dahlbeck scored his first NHL goal; however, much of the discussion post-game surrounded Chicago’s Jonathan Toews.

The Blackhawks captain took a hit from behind midway through the second period courtesy Bruins’ defenseman Dennis Seidenberg.

Seidenberg received a minor penalty for boarding. Toews left the game soon after and did not return.

It has been reported the Department of Player Safety will review the incident.

Boston coach Claude Julien believes some of the onus is on Toews in that situation to be better prepared to receive a hit.

“I’ve been saying that for a long time, we need to educate our players to protect themselves better,” Julien said per WEEI.com. “We keep turning our backs, we keep trying to curl away.

“A player’s job is to finish his check and a player should know he’s going to be hit. It’s not about tonight, it’s about the whole league. I’m one of those guys who has put a lot of pressure on people who look at those kind of things and say, ‘It’s OK to take away those hits from hits from behind when they’re warranted. But what about the other guy? Does he not have a responsibility?’”

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Toews is OK.

“He seemed all right,” said Quenneville. “It looks like he’s going to be all right.”

Seidenberg said he felt he had Toews’ right shoulder lined up.

“I would never want to hurt a guy. That’s the last thing on my mind,” he said. “If you go through the middle you have to have your head up, right? It was just unfortunate how (Toews) went into the boards. I thought I had his right shoulder but it just kind of happened and it just didn’t look that great.”

Toews teammates were not happy with the hit post-game.

“It was tough lose Johnny to a hit like that,” said Patrick Sharp. “Seidenberg has a reputation as a clean hockey player. He has a lot of respect. Having said that, we didn’t like that hit.”

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara made his return to the Boston lineup after suffering a knee injury Oct. 23 and played over 24 minutes.

Torey Krug and Reilly Smith had the Boston goals.

Ben Smith and Patrick Kane had the other Blackhawks goals.

The two teams meet for a second and final time in Chicago on Feb. 22.

Follow @dcmahiban