Blackhawks At Blues Morning Open Thread

Hey, remember after the Blues win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday how we were all like "wow, wouldn't it be awesome if the Blues were the team that broke Chicago's now insane 19 game point streak?" And how we believed that the Blues could do it?

Yeah, good times.

Since then, the Blues have lost the other two players in their second line thanks to a hard practice drill on Monday. Alex Steen and Andy McDonald (Vladimir Tarasenko has already been out with a concussion for a bit) both were injured; McDonald hurt his knee and Steen hurt his shoulder. How, you might ask?

The action picked up in the battle drill.

"They were having a blast," Hitchcock said. "It was last goal won."

One team had scored the last goal prior to McDonald's injury, but Hitchcocked waved it off. Play continued.

"The only thing looking back on it, maybe I should have given those guys the legal goal," Hitchcock said. "It was illegal ... there was no goalie in the net."

Gee, thanks, Hitch.

The Blues've called up Andrew Murray and Adam Cracknell to fill in, but wait - what's this? Possible hope? The injuries to Steen and McDonald appear to be "short term," and Steen might work his way into the line-up tonight. That'd be a definite help to the Blues, but what would be even more helpful is the rest of that line being healthy. Eh, que sera, sera, I suppose.

Check back later for a Lighting the Lamp featuring a piece of Hawks memorabilia that even a Blues fan can drool over, possibly a Three Questions with our friends from Second City Hockey, the game preview, game day thread, and a recap in which I can hopefully use the phrase "Blackhawks lose first game in regulation" in that exact order.