Chicago forward Ben Smith and a look inside the Blackhawks’ locker room:
CHICAGO — Greetings from the frigid cold. Minus fourth-line forward Cody McLeod, the Avalanche had a brief hop at the United Center, and the morning skate report is . Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews took the morning skate off but is expected to play against the Avs.
Avs coach Patrick Roy and GM Joe Sakic played shinny after the morning skates, along with assistant coaches Tim Army, Andre Tourigny and Mario Duhamel and goalie Reto Berra and defenseman Zach Redmond. Sakic was the last one off the ice.
Colorado’s lineup:
Landeskog-Duchene-Rendulic
Tanguay-O’Reilly-Iginla
Talbot-Mitchell-MacKinnon
McLeod-Cliche-Briere
Hejda-Johnson
Guenin-Barrie
Stuart-Holden
(Redmond might be seventh D if McLeod doesn’t play)
Varlamov
Berra
