Backes, Brouwer Sit Out Of Today's Practice; Allen On Ice

News was released today that the Blackhawks' walking wounded - Artem Anisimov, Marian Hossa, and Andrew Shaw - will be returning Wednesday for game one of the playoffs against the St. Louis Blues. As a pointed counterpoint, the Blues held David Backes and Troy Brouwer out of practice today. Backes was shut down for the remainder of the season; Brouwer was the team's iron man this year and played in every game.

There's not a lot of reason for panic for either guy to have sat out, considering that a practice is not the same thing as game one itself.

Jake Allen is also back on the ice; he'll be backing up Brian Elliott when the puck drops Wednesday night. Said Allen to Jeremy Rutherford:

"I'll be back Game 1, ready to go," he said. "Played well this year, happy with my season, ready when need be. If my name gets called, I'll be ready to go."

Hitchcock all but confirmed that Allen will be the backup.

"He looked great, so we'll take him through the rest of the day," Hitchcock said. "If he comes through fine, it looks like he's 100 percent to go."

Steve Ott is still out for the foreseeable future.