The Chicago Blackhawks haven’t had a lot of luck on the injury front lately, and on Tuesday they were dealt another blow as winger Marian Hossa was forced to leave with an upper body injury during the team’s 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Hossa, who has 16 goals on the season to lead the Blackhawks in scoring, played only 2:53 in the game before leaving the ice surface. It was unclear when Hossa suffered the injury, but his absence forced the team to double-shift several players, including Patrick Kane.
After the game, head coach Joel Quenneville described Hossa’s status as “day-to-day” and said that he is questionable for Friday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche.
Hossa’s injury comes at a time when the Blackhawks are already dealing with another injured top-six forward, as Artem Anisimov has missed the last two games with an injury of his own. Anisimov has been ably replaced on the second line by Vincent Hinostroza, but losing Hossa makes that line a bit more of a question mark moving forward.
If Hossa does have to miss Friday’s game, he’ll get the benefit of extra time off because of the NHL’s schedule around Christmas. The league takes a three-day break over the holiday, meaning that the Blackhawks only play one game over the next seven days, giving Hossa plenty of time to heal up assuming that the injury isn’t a serious one.
