Blackhawks defenseman Enrico Ciccone had an ugly purple welt running across the back of his left wrist after Sunday’s 5-3 victory over Dallas. And while X-rays showed no fracture, he’s not sure if he’ll be able to play Wednesday at Toronto.
“I’ll have to see if I can hold my stick,” he said. “At the end of the game I couldn’t hold my stick at all.”
The Stars’ Benoit Hogue was penalized for slashing and the Hawks’ Bernie Nicholls went to the penalty box with him for going after Hogue–which Ciccone appreciated.
“I turned around and there was a pile out there,” he said. “Bernie went in for me. It’s the first time that’s happened for me.”
Almost: Steve Smith, who had put only 12 shots on net all season, had four in the first period alone but still couldn’t score his first goal of the year. “We won some faceoffs and they just happened to be on my side,” said Smith, “so I was doing my best to put it on net.”
Smith did get two assists. One came on Tony Amonte’s goal, the eventual game-winner, on which there were four perfect passes before Amonte scored his 28th of the year. Nicholls started the play with a pass to Eric Daze, got the puck back, then sent it to Smith, who put it on the tape for Amonte.
“It was an unselfish play by Smitty,” said Amonte. “It seems we got the jump on them and we got the puck to the right guy. You want Bernie to have the puck at the blue line.”
Injury update: Jeremy Roenick says his sprained right ankle is “still sore in certain spots” and he’s not sure when he’ll resume skating. “But it’ll heal quicker now toward the end,” he said, hopefully.
Jeff Hackett is scheduled to resume practice after missing 10 days with a broken finger. Murray Craven is likely to be back in the lineup Wednesday.
Goal-oriented: With six games to go, it’s unlikely Bob Probert will reach 20 goals. His two Sunday gave him 15. “I was kind of hoping I’d get 20,” he says. “That was the original goal I set.”