Hawks’ defenseman plagued with mysterious injury

In their final pre-season bout with the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Blackhawks had to play the last five minutes without Connor Murphy.

The defenseman collapsed on the ice near his team’s bench late in the game, and at the time it was not clear what happened. He had to be helped off to the locker room and didn’t return to the game.

Joel Quenneville called it a lower-body injury following the game, but didn’t have any more to offer on the situation. As with Toews, who also left the game with a lower-body injury, the coach is optimistic that Murphy’s injury isn’t serious.

Connor Murphy was acquired over the summer from the Arizona Coyotes in a deal that saw longtime favorite defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson sent the other way in a multi-piece deal.