Keith injures groin, will not travel to Colorado
Duncan Keith injured his groin during the Blackhawks' 5-2 loss to Colorado at the United Center on Friday and will not travel to Denver as the teams complete the second half of a back-to-back Saturday.
Keith was hurt while trying to chase down Valeri Nichushkin during the second period. Nichushkin grabbed a loose puck in his defensive zone, motored past a flat-footed Erik Gustafsson and then easily outraced Keith to the net.
Nichushkin finished off the breakaway by backhanding a shot over Corey Crawford's left shoulder to give the Avalanche a 4-1 lead.
Keith went to the bench and did not play again.
"He's been having maintenance days and obviously we try to take care of it, and at some point he just felt he couldn't play," said coach Jeremy Colliton, who doesn't know if the injury could be a long-term issue.
Keith has played in 269 out of a possible 271 games over the past three-plus seasons. He was averaging almost 24.5 minutes of ice time coming into Friday.
Said Jonathan Toews: "We're so used to having him on the back end doing what he does, it's almost like you take it for granted - the amount of minutes he plays and what he does offensively and defensively, and just how he makes the game easier on his own partner and everyone around him.
"Hopefully he'll be back soon. Not used to being out there without a guy like him. Definitely hurts a lot."
Said Colliton: "It's opportunity for guys to show they can do more for us. Every team in the league goes through it and we're going to go through it and we've got to find a way to get points anyway."
About an hour after the game, the Hawks recalled defenseman Ian McCoshen from Rockford and sent forward Matthew Highmore back to the IceHogs. McCoshen, acquired from Florida for Aleksi Saarela, had 4 assists in 13 games for Rockford.
Bad puck luck:
Drake Caggiula thinks the concussion he's recovering from may have been the result of a first-period Connor Murphy slap shot that hit him in the jaw during the Hawks' victory over Toronto on Nov. 10.
"Could've been from prior hits (too), and then that was the last straw," Caggiula said after doing individual drills at Fifth Third Bank Arena on Thursday. "I'm not really sure."
Caggiula played the rest of the game against the Maple Leafs, logging almost 10.5 minutes of ice time. The concussion symptoms presented themselves on the flight to Vegas two days later.
"I've had these injuries before," said Caggiula, who missed 13 games with a concussion late last season. "Just wanted to be safe, and I'm glad that myself and the team have taken it seriously and looking after my health instead of just trying to play through something you're not sure about."
Caggiula has 3 goals and 1 assist in 15 games.
Slap shots:
When Patrick Kane recorded his 600th assist on Nov. 21, he did it in the fourth-fewest games (925) in NHL history among U.S.-born players. Brian Leetch holds the record at 860 games. ... On Nov. 16, Colorado's Cale Makar became the fourth defenseman in NHL history to record 20 points in his first 20 games. Makar gave Colorado a 3-1 lead in the first period against the Hawks by scoring on the power play. It was his eighth goal of the season and seventh in the last 10 games. ... The Avs have outscored their opponents 57-37 in the second and third periods.