Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews suffered an apparent upper-body injury in his team's 2-1 loss Wednesday to the Sharks. He did not return.
Midway through the second period, Toews got tangled up with the Sharks' Joe Pavelski while taking a faceoff in the Blackhawks' defensive zone and seemed to tweak something on the play. Toews got back to his feat and continued on, but he labored through the rest of his shift before heading to the locker room at the 11:17 mark.
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The Blackhawks announced early in the third period that Toews would not return to game, but did not elaborate on the nature of his injury.
Here is Toews' fall. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/6WMonLNFKb
— John Dietz (@johndietzdh) November 24, 2016
Coach Joel Quenneville told reporters after the game the injury was to the upper body.
Jonathan Toews hopefully "nothing serious," Q says.
— Mark Lazerus 📎 (@MarkLazerus) November 24, 2016
Chicago also saw third-line center Marcus Kruger leave the game at the end of the second period, possibly at the request of the NHL's concussion spotters. Kruger returned for the third period.
Q said Kruger was the first time the #Blackhawks had a spotter take out a player. "Everybody, I think, was trying to do the right things."
— Mark Lazerus 📎 (@MarkLazerus) November 24, 2016
Already thin on depth, the Blackhawks can ill afford an extended absence of their captain or Kruger. If both were to miss time, Artem Anisimov and Vince Hinostroza would become their only healthy true centermen. Toews was sixth on the team with 12 points in 20 games entering Wednesday.
