The high octane attack of the St. Louis Blues was missing three of their top 10 scorers for a 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, including two members of the red hot "Three "S" line.
Center Valdamir Sobotka and left wing Jaden Schwartz were shelved with muscle injuries, leaving the third "S", right wing Chris Stewart to carry on the name while right wing David Backes is being evaluated for a possible concussion.
The status of all three should be considered day-to-day without any updated time table for return to the lineup.
Backes is having a tremendous first half of the season, notching 16 goals and 14 assists while averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time per game, while Schwartz and Sobotka have been on fire as late, logging 22 and 15 points respectively. All three are in the black in plus/minus.
The loss to the Sharks was the first game missed by Backes in nearly four years, accounting for a string of 274 consecutive contests, but the durable veteran center will quite probably miss a few more after a brutal collision with Ottawa center Colin Greening on Monday night.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said that Backes hasn't skated since sustaining the injury on Monday. Backes also hasn't been cleared to do "anything." while Schwartz didn't see practice ice on Monday because he was "Banged up", though he logged 18:34 of ice time in Saturday night's win over Columbus.
Sobotka left the game against the Blue Jackets after playing just half of his normal ice time, perhaps banged up from a nasty shot he took a week ago from the Maple Leafs' David Clarkson.
http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2013/12/st-louis-trio-misses-sharks-loss-backes_18.html
No comments:
Post a Comment