Hossa hurt in Chicago Blackhawks' OT loss
It looks like the Chicago Blackhawks dodged a massive bullet during their 3-2 overtime loss to Anaheim on Saturday night at the United Center.
Apprehensive fans across Chicagoland — and around the country, for that matter — can breathe a sigh of relief that Marian Hossa didn't suffer a season-ending injury after getting hip-checked by Hampus Lindolm and flying feet-first into the boards in the second period.
After lying on the ice for about a minute, Hossa was helped off but was unable to put any weight on his left leg. Coach Joel Quenneville, though, said that while the veteran winger may miss some time it's probably “stretching it” to say that it's a multiweek injury.
“We'll know more tomorrow,” Quenneville said.
Brent Seabrook scored both of the Hawks' goals, the second tying things up at 2-2 with 7:56 remaining in the game. It was his 10th of the season, a career high.
Ryan Getzlaf scored the game-winner on a rebound with 2:44 left in OT with the Ducks on the power play as the Hawks were whistled for too many men on the ice.
Patrick Kane had a golden opportunity to win it with a breakaway 20 seconds into OT, but Getzlaf recovered and distracted Kane enough to force a misfire.
“They get a breakaway and that guy that got the breakaway is not a bad player,” said Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau. “So when he missed, I said maybe things are looking up for us.”
The Hawks (36-18-5) are just 4-5-1 since their 12-game winning streak was snapped by Tampa Bay on Jan. 21. They have also scored just 4 goals over the last 10 periods.
“Well, we'll take a point tonight,” Quenneville said. “I don't think we deserved a point, but we'll take it.”
Hossa has just 10 goals on the season, but every player and fan knows how important he is to the defending champs.
“He's working his tail off all year, maybe not getting the results he wants offensively,” Jonathan Toews said. “But he's still killing penalties, filling in on the power play, playing top lines and (against) top defensemen all the time.
“Sometimes even if he's not scoring the way he knows he can, you don't realize how much you'll miss a guy like that until he's not in your lineup.”
Richard Panik joined Toews and Andrew Shaw on the top line after Hossa was injured.
That move paid instant dividends as — 22 seconds after Hossa left — Panik drew a penalty on Nate Thompson. Seabrook then cashed in 18 seconds later by grabbing his own rebound and burying a shot past John Gibson.
The Ducks erased that 1-0 deficit when Jakob Silfverberg scored at 4:56 of the third, and David Perron beat Corey Crawford at 8:38 of the third.
Crawford made 41 saves. Artemi Panarin (illness) returned after missing two games but was hardly noticeable in 15:48 of ice time.
The Hawks are 0-2-1 on a four-game homestand that ends Monday against Toronto.
“We haven't quite had the speed and the momentum, the jump that we've been looking for,” Toews said. “Top to bottom all four lines need to be better.”