CHICAGO -- Patrick Kane has been a constant in a season of inconsistencies for the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks have had stretches of superiority. They have had stretches where they have been average to below average. Throughout it all, Kane continued to pile up points while putting together a career season.
Now the Blackhawks face the possibility of being without Kane. He suffered an upper-body injury when he crashed into the boards after a crosscheck from the Florida Panthers' Alex Petrovic on Tuesday. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville was unsure after the game how long Kane would be out, but Quenneville used the words "some time," which probably means at least a few weeks.
Kane's teammates made no attempt to downplay his significance after the game. From his league-best 64 points, which includes a team-high 27 goals and 37 assists to playing on both power-play units to being the lone forward who is asked to double-shift, the Blackhawks rely on Kane and his offensive skills in an abundance of ways.
"You never want to see Kaner miss a shift, let alone the rest of the game," Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp said.
Blackhawks forward Kris Versteeg felt the same.
"People pay a lot of money to watch Patrick Kane play," Versteeg said. "It's never good when he's out of the lineup not only for us, but for the league. Hopefully he's good. We'll see how it goes."
The Blackhawks haven't had to handle being without Kane for much of his eight seasons. His most significant injury came last season, when he sat out the final 12 regular-season games because of a knee injury. The Blackhawks also were without Jonathan Toews for six of those games. Both players returned for the playoffs.
It's that span last season where Quenneville's mind immediately turned after losing Kane on Tuesday.
"We came together well and played some big games and got some meaningful points," Quenneville said. "That's what we got to do now."
The Blackhawks have important games ahead of them. The Central Division standings are far from being sorted out. The Blackhawks' chances of catching the Nashville Predators, who have a 12-point lead on them, are slim. But the Blackhawks are only three points behind the St. Louis Blues and are four points ahead of the Winnipeg Jets and eight points ahead of the Minnesota Wild.
What has worked to the Blackhawks' advantage in the past is they're not defined by one star but a collection of them. They need now for their top players to play like top players and for their depth players to rise to the challenge. Players like Sharp, Marian Hossa, Brad Richards and Brandon Saad have to pick up some of the offensive slack. Teuvo Teravainen, the organization's top prospect, probably will get another chance with the Blackhawks.
"Look at Kaner, he's 20 to 30 points ahead of the next guy on the team," Versteeg said. "That's hard to replace that scoring. This team always seems to find ways, so we're just going to have to do that. Dig deep."
Tuesday's 3-2 shootout victory over the Panthers was a positive first step without Kane. Versteeg and Toews scored goals. Both have been producing lately. The defense was solid throughout much of the game despite being without Johnny Oduya. The Blackhawks faced some adversity in giving up a two-goal lead late but found a way to pull out two points. They also continued to get solid goaltending, which came from rookie Scott Darling on Tuesday. The fact Corey Crawford has been among the league's top goaltenders for much of the season is a big plus for the Blackhawks.
"I don't think you can replace the thing that [Kane] does with the puck, without the puck, the attention that he draws, but one of the strengths of the organization is depth," Sharp said. "You hear it all the time, when a player goes down, you need to step up and collectively fill those shoes. But you guys know as well as I do what kind of player Kaner is."