April 19--The Predators left one of their best players behind as they made the trip to Chicago on Saturday.
Captain Shea Weber, the anchor of the Predators defense, did not travel with the club for Sunday's Game 3 at the United Center and is out through Game 4 on Tuesday with the team saying it will provide an update on his status Wednesday.
Weber left Game 2 on Friday because of a lower body injury he appeared to suffer in the second period.
Without Weber, the Predators rallied for a 6-2 victory to even the best-of seven series 1-1.
The Hawks were disappointed they couldn't capitalize on Weber's absence in Game 2.
"We didn't take advantage of them having five (defensemen) and being exposed as we would like," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "Their defense is extremely deep and mobile."
It's the second straight season the opposing team's captain will not play in Games 3 and 4 of the first round at the United Center. Last season, Blues captain David Backes was sidelined after a hard blow on a hit that drew a three-game suspension for Hawks defenseman Brent Seabrook.
Winger Patrick Kane said Weber's absence won't change much how the Hawks attack.
"They played pretty well without him (but) obviously he's a big key player for them whether it's power play, penalty kill, defending our top line," Kane said. "It's important not to really think about that too much and just try to create chances."
Center Mike Fisher (lower body) did make the trip but is day-to-day, the Predators announced. Fisher was hurt in Game 1 and did not play in Game 2.
Will Vermette play? Antoine Vermette, whom the Hawks paid a steep price to acquire at the trade deadline, was a healthy scratch for both games in Nashville.
After the Hawks' disastrous third period in Game 2, Quenneville might be looking to shake things up with his lineup.
Although Quenneville announced a change in net with Scott Darling replacing Corey Crawford, he was noncommittal when asked Saturday if Vermette would get his first ice time in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"We'll look at a couple of options. We'll see on the changes (Sunday)," Quenneville said.
Sharp is sharp: Patrick Sharp has scored in each of the first two games of the series after starting the playoffs slow a season ago.
But Sharp said he isn't too concerned with his scoring stats so long as the team is creating chances and somebody is doing the scoring.
"It was nice from an individual standpoint to get a couple of goals and I kind of turned the page on the regular season,"
Sharp said. "But ... nobody really cares who scores."
