Originally published November 22, 2013
Chicago Blackhawks' coach Joel Quenneville showed no surprise at star
forward Marian Hossa's high level of play we he returned to the ice in
Winnipeg on Thursday night after missing three games with the always
ambiguous "Lower body injury".
“That is one thing about Hos, he plays the right way,” said a beaming Quenneville after the game.
“He is very consistent, predictable and you expect him to play that way
game-in, game-out, and he didn’t miss a beat.”
Hossa
logged over 17 minutes of ice time and scored the eventual game-winning
goal in the Blackhawks' rousing victory over the Jets at the MTS Centre
in Winnipeg Manitoba, also assisting on Bandon Saad's seventh goal of
the season in the second period.
The plan to ease Hossa
back into the pace of the Blackhawks' up-tempo attack fell by the
wayside as it appeared that the two-way player was already back at full
strength and ready to contribute
“I just basically have
to go back to the short shifts, get the feel of
the game again and hopefully won’t be too bad,” the veteran right winger
said before the game, “I’m expecting a lot of things from
myself, so hopefully I’ll be back to normal.”
Yeah, he was.
Count goaltender Corey Crawford and team captain Johnathan Towes as players happy to have Hossa back in the fold.
“He plays at both ends of the ice, he’s willing to put the effort in to
come back and help our D. That’s what we need,” Crawford said. “It
rubs off on other guys, too.” - and, added Towes, "Hossa’s always in the right spot, be it in the slot or up on the other
side. When Sharpie and I turn the puck over, Hossa’s all over it,
getting the puck back for us. It’s definitely helpful.”
Hossa
suffered a back injury during the Cup finals against the Boston Bruins
last June and it took him a significant number of games to get back into
the swing of things at the start of this season after rehabbing all
summer - and some had speculated that this latest injury was related to
that, but the way Hossa skated right out of the gates on Thursday put
that rumor to rest.
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