Chicago Blackhawks expecting Hossa to play against St. Louis
Barring a setback Wednesday morning, Marian Hossa will return to the Chicago Blackhawks lineup when they play at St. Louis in a key divisional matchup on Wednesday.
Hossa has missed eight games with a lower-body injury that he suffered when he was hip checked into the boards by Anaheim's Hampus Lindholm on Feb. 13. Hossa skated on the top line during Tuesday's practice at Johnny's IceHouse West with Jonathan Toews and Andrew Ladd.
“I'm looking forward to playing with those two,” said Hossa, who remembers skating with Ladd for a few games during the 2010 playoffs. “Hopefully we click, hopefully we find the chemistry and we can be the dominant line we want to be.”
And if that happens, watch out because the Hawks managed to go a respectable 5-3 with Hossa on the shelf.
“It's always fun to play good hockey and realize, ‘Oh, hey. We've been missing this guy for a little while here, and he's only going to make our team better,'” Jonathan Toews said. “We all know what Hoss bring to our team. It'll be fun to get him back.”
Andrew Shaw, who spent 30 games on the top line, was moved to fourth-line center Tuesday with Brandon Mashinter and Dale Weise as his wingers. Dennis Rasmussen and Richard Panik were both outside the top four lines and will likely be scratched Wednesday.
Hossa was originally slated to miss just two weeks, but if he plays Wednesday, he will have ended up missing 3.5 weeks. Hossa said he would have returned sooner if able, but he wanted to make sure he trusted his instincts and felt good on the ice.
“It took a little longer than I thought,” he said.
As for the hit that caused the injury? Hossa harbored no ill will toward Lindholm.
“It was an OK hit,” Hossa said. “I'm not saying there was anything dirty. Not at all.
“I tried to go around him and he tried to hip check me and he hit me above the knee and tried to finish me and it was just an accident and it happens. Not worried about it anymore.”
He'll take it:
Jonathan Toews loves standing in front of the next after Blackhawks practices and redirecting shots from the blue line by Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook or whomever else wants to join in.
The one type of deflection Toews joked about not working on are shots off his body, like the one from Andrew Desjardins on Sunday that deflected off his right leg and past Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard in the third period of a 4-1 Hawks victory.
“Sometimes you get lucky,” said Toews, who now has 24 goals on the season. “(Andrew Shaw) and I take a lot of pride in getting those ugly goals. I think we feel probably better than anyone when we score goals like that.
“Once in a while that's what happens — you go to the net, if you get a stick on it, that's great. If it hits your body, something's going to happen. As you saw on that situation, it worked out.”
Kruger gets extension:
Marcus Kruger and the Blackhawks have agreed on a three-year contract extension worth $9.25 million. The deal runs through the end of the 2018-19 NHL season.
Kruger, 25, has been out with a wrist injury and is expected back before the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Slap shots:
Michal Rozsival had 2 assists Sunday against Detroit. It was the defenseman's first multi-point effort since March 2, 2015. … Duncan Keith needs 1 goal to reach 10 for the fourth time in his 11-year career. Keith sat out Tuesday's practice, taking a maintenance day. … Trevor van Riemsdyk has 10 blocked shots in the last two games. … Bryan Bickell has 5 goals and 4 assists in Rockford's past 10 games.