A bitter loss on Sunday night to the rival Detroit Red Wings got even worse on Monday for the Chicago Blackhawks.
After an optional workout at the Hawks' practice facility down the street from the United Center, coach Joel Quenneville told reporters that star forward Patrick Sharp will be out "three-to-four weeks" with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
It's a big loss for the Hawks, who haven't won in five of their last six games -- including a current four-game skid -- and have dropped to fifth in the Western Conference after being on top less than a week ago. Sharp, whose injury won't require surgery, has 20 goals and 20 assists in 42 games. He's also a stalwart among Chicago's top six forwards.
Sharp was placed on injured reserve Monday and Ben Smith was recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League.
"He's one of our leading scorers," Hawks goalie Corey Crawford said "If he goes … (everybody) knows what he can bring and just his presence in the room, having a guy there just makes you that much more confident in the room and going out to the ice. Obviously that's a huge loss for us, but all the teams deal with the same sort of stuff. You can't really use it as an excuse."
