Blackhawks' Quenneville expects Daley back soon
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Trevor Daley, who went down hard during Sunday's victory over Winnipeg after getting hit by Chris Thorburn, will not play Tuesday against Nashville. Coach Joel Quenneville said it was an upper-body injury and not serious.
“The question last night was, ‘Was he knocked out?' ” Quenneville said. “We don't believe he was knocked out last night.”
Despite the fact Daley has yet to score a goal (he had 16 last season with Dallas), Quenneville believes the veteran has “improved his game” of late. Daley has 5 assists and has been more active in the Hawks' offensive zone of late.
Watch for the Hawks to use David Rundblad as their sixth defenseman against the Predators on Tuesday. Rundblad has appeared in five games this season but none since Oct. 29 at Winnipeg.
Going 4th:
The Hawks' fourth line of Andrew Desjardins, Marcus Kruger and Ryan Garbutt had numerous scoring chances during the Blackhawks' 3-1 victory Sunday. Garbutt took 5 shots on goal in 11:08 of ice time and Kruger appeared to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the first period, but the referees ruled the puck went in because Kruger kicked it in with his skate.
Kruger said he felt like he fell down right away, but he wasn't crying sour grapes Monday after the Hawks held an optional practice at Johnny's IceHouse West.
“They've probably got good camera angles and they look at it — they've got everything there to make the call, and they didn't call it a goal so it wasn't a goal,” Kruger said.
Coach Joel Quenneville certainly was pleased with the line's performance.
“Well, they had a lot of offensive zone time; they generated some chances,” he said Sunday. “They were around the puck, swarming each other and really sustained our team game — something we've talked about that we haven't seen much of this year.”
Scary moment:
Trevor van Riemsdyk, who fractured his kneecap in Game 18 last season and didn't return until the Stanley Cup Final, took another shot to the same knee Sunday. He said his head definitely started racing at first, but he was relieved when he went to the locker room and found out everything was OK.
Movin' and shakin':
The Hawks called Dennis Rasmussen up from Rockford on Monday and sent down Tanner Kero. Rasmussen was second on the IceHogs with 14 points (7 goals) in 22 games. Kero played in 17 games and had 1 goal and 2 assists.