Morning Bag Skate: Blackhawks suffer ‘brutal’ loss entering bye week
Our daily look at Blackhawks news and the happenings around the hockey world.
Petr Mrazek made 27 saves for his second shutout of the season to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday at United Center.
Chicago (22-17-6) head coach Joel Quenneville characterized the loss as “brutal” in his postgame press conference. The Hawks enter their five-day break one point behind Dallas for the Western Conference’s second wild card spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
HAWKS
**RECAP: Red Wings shut out Hawks (SCH)
**Crawford’s mysterious absence stretches to 3 weeks (SCH)
**Franson calls waivers and AHL demotion ‘extremely frustrating’ (SCH)
**Quenneville on Hawks’ loss to Red Wings: ‘Brutal’ (Chicago Tribune)
CENTRAL DIVISION
**RECAP: Sutter, Canucks top Wild in OT (Hockey Wilderness)
**A to-do list as Blues dive into 2nd half of season (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
**Blues at the break: Armstrong addresses issues, ponders trade (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
**Gordo: 5 keys to a Blues turnaround (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
**Veteran defenseman David Warsofsky to get his chance with Avs (The Denver Post)
NHL
**Every NHL team’s 2017-18 season bye week in one list (SBN)
**RECAP: Flames defeat Hurricanes for 7th straight win (Matchsticks and Gasoline)
**RECAP: Penguins top Rangers for 4th consecutive victory (Pensburgh)
**Cogliano’s 830-game ironman streak ends with suspension (PHT)
**Challenges of fulfilling Johnson’s trade request from Blue Jackets (The Athletic)
**Time for Melnyk to apologize to Senators fans (The Athletic)
HOCKEY WORLD
**OHL roundup: Cam Hillis scores overtime winner as Storm edge 67’s (Sportsnet)
**QMJHL roundup: Mikhnin, Dove-McFalls lead Oceanic past Sea Dogs (Sportsnet)
**WHL roundup: Howden scores OT winner as Warriors edge Tigers (Sportsnet)
