Chicago Injuries Mount as Toews Joins Kane with Arm Injury
The end of the NHL regular season is quickly approaching and for the Chicago Blackhawks it cannot come soon enough. A collective sigh of relief from the city of Chicago was heard when Joel Quenneville the Blackhawks coach said that Jonathan Toews’ injury was not serious. Toews suffered the injury in Sunday’s 4-1 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
However, that does not mean the team’s situation is not serious. According to coach Quenneville, Toews is now day-to-day with what appears to be an injury to his left arm. On Monday, Toews will have a re-evaluation.
Chicago lost its third consecutive game on Sunday and with the prospect of going forward without Toews, the team could be losing more games just as the postseason approaches.
Chicago has had a difficult time producing offense with the number of injuries depleting the players they have that can regularly put the puck in the net.
If the now injured Toews is able to play in Chicago’s next game versus the Minnesota Wild on Thursday at home, Chicago will have a fighting chance.
Even with Toews in the lineup, the Blackhawks have only scored 11 goals over their last six games played since Patrick Kane went down injured.
Patrick Sharp said when players go down injured, someone must take up the slack. However, he added that when players like Toews and Kane both are injured, they are difficult to replace.
Sharp said someone is always ready to step in, but it will not be anyone with the grit, skill or determination of Toews.
Quenneville is putting a positive spin on the fact Toews’ injury is just short term. The Chicago coach wants him back on the ice as soon as possible.
In being positive, Quenneville is looking at things with the glass half-full. He even has gone as far as saying with the recent losses that he is not concerned with the final playoff seedings or even about home-ice advantage.
Currently the Blackhawks do not own the home-ice advantage.
Chicago is already in the postseason, but is battling other teams for home ice advantage. It really does not matter if they were able to play every playoff game at home, because minus the likes of Kane and Toews means they would not repeat has the NHL Champions.
Kane will miss the remainder of the regular season, while Bryan Bickell is out but expected back soon.
Toews’ injury helped to galvanized Chicago and they played well after he was injured Sunday night.
March has been rough for Chicago due to injuries. The last six games without Kane and adding Toews to that list will only make things more difficult for Chicago.
Quenneville also says the schedule has been their enemy as well playing 11 games over a span of just 19 days.
Chicago with their loss on Sunday is now in fifth place in the Western Conference a point behind fourth place Colorado, with six games to play in the regular season. However, Colorado has two games in hand with 8 remaining.
