CHICAGO — Chicago Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira spent the night in a hospital after he was leveled by Jacob Trouba during a 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers.
Team physician Michael Terry said Khaira was released Wednesday morning after undergoing “extensive testing.”
“Despite the significant injury, his prognosis is excellent, and we expect a full recovery,” Terry said in a news release. “At this point, it is too early to put a timeline on return to play.”
Khaira’s head was down as he gathered the puck in the second period Tuesday night. He looked up right as Trouba appeared to drive his right shoulder into Khaira’s chin.
The back of Khaira’s head bounced hard off the ice, and there was no sign of any movement from him as the Blackhawks and Rangers scuffled nearby.
A stretcher was wheeled onto the ice, and medical personnel worked on Khaira as each team looked on from the bench area. A handful of his teammates and the Rangers tapped the stretcher as Khaira was taken off.
“Personally I was pretty shaken,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said after the loss. “I’m not going to lie to you. Just glad to hear he’s doing OK.”
PENGUINS: Jake Guentzel is “week to week” because of an upper-body injury.
Coach Mike Sullivan did not go into detail about how or when Guentzel was hurt. Guentzel left the ice briefly in the first period of a victory over Seattle on Monday night, though he returned and finished with two goals and an assist.
Guentzel has been among the most productive players in the NHL over the opening two months of the season. He has a 13-game points streak, with 11 goals and seven assists. For the season, he has 15 goals and 12 assists in 24 games.
KRAKEN: Mark Giordano rejoined Seattle at practice after 10 days in a Florida hotel because of a positive COVID-19 test.
Giordano tested positive on Nov. 26 as Seattle was beginning a road trip at Tampa Bay. The team underwent testing that morning and Giordano’s initial test, along with a couple of follow up tests, all came back positive.
Giordano said he had a little bit of congestion and lost his sense of taste for a short time, but that was about the extent of his symptoms.
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
DEVILS 3, FLYERS 0: Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves and New Jersey snapped a four-game skid and sent visiting Philadelphia to its 10th straight loss.
Jesper Bratt had a second-period goal and assisted on a power-play goal by rookie Dawson Mercer later in the period. Michael McLeod scored into an empty net late as the Devils beat the Flyers for the second time in 10 days.
Carter Hart had 24 saves for the Flyers, who fell to 0-2 under interim coach Mike Yeo. He took over on Monday after Alain Vigneault was fired. The Flyers’ 10-game skid (0-8-2) is two shy of the team’s longest winless streak. The record of 12 games (0-8-4) was set from Feb. 24-March 16, 1999. Philadelphia’s last win was 2-1 over Calgary on Nov. 16.
AVALANCHE 7, RANGERS 3: Logan O’Connor scored twice in a 22-second span in a five-goal second period, and visiting Colorado ended New York’s seven-game winning streak.
Mikko Rantanen also scored twice for Colarado. Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri and Alex Newhook added goals, and Darcy Kuemper made 26 saves. Kadri, Devon Toews and Samuel Girard each had two assists as the Avalanche improved to 8-2-1 in their last 11 games.
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