MONTREAL -- Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp is out indefinitely after sustaining a lower-body injury in Chicago's 5-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
Sharp left the game seven minutes into the third period after taking a seemingly innocuous hit from Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin along the boards.
"Sharp is probably going to be out for a bit," coach Joel Quenneville said after the game. "We'll know more in the next day or so. We'll see."
With Sharp chasing a puck in the corner, Emelin hit the Blackhawks winger, who instantly dropped to the ice. To make matters worse, Emelin fell on Sharp's left leg seconds after the collision. Sharp lay on the ice for a brief moment before being escorted off by teammate Niklas Hjalmarsson.
"These things can happen," Quenneville said. "Tough break."
A reluctant Quenneville wouldn't say how many games he expected Sharp to miss or disclose the exact nature of the injury, simply calling it a lower-body injury. But he did imply the team would need to start thinking of a replacement for Sharp on the wing.
"We have some guys who have some skill, want more ice time," he said. "We'll see how that works out. Certainly, a lot of important ice time, and somebody should take advantage of that."
With an assist Tuesday, Sharp now has nine points on the season. He finished the game with 15:20 of ice time.
"It's never easy, but we've been through it before," center Jonathan Toews said. "It's unfortunate for Sharpy. He's been playing well; he's always a big part of our offense. He's been really great in getting shots off and creating on the power play. Whenever you have an injury to a key player, it's an opportunity for other guys to get more ice time. Guys will try to step in and make up for that as much as they can, and as a team, we have to be prepared to fill that void."