Brandon Saad has worn a fishbowl helmet for the past two weeks because of a facial fracture, the forward told Mark Lazerus of The Athletic.
Saad started to wear the helmet after taking a puck to the face during practice Oct. 7 at MB Ice Arena. He spent 2-3 hours that day at a dentist and received about 15 stitches. He skated 14:43 minutes and recorded an assist the next night in a 4-3 loss to the Hurricanes.
Saad sat out the next two games with an arm injury before returning Nov. 14 against the Blues. He was held scoreless, but has turned things around with a goal in each of his last three games.
Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton is relying more and more on Saad, who logged a season-high 22:33 minutes of ice time on the first line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in Chicago’s 4-2 loss to the Capitals on Wednesday night.
There’s no telling when Saad will hang up the fishbowl for a normal helmet, but with the scoring streak he’s on why would he?