CHICAGO -- After getting back on the ice for four straight days while recovering from what's believed to be a concussion, Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews has taken the last two days off.

The Hawks didn't practice on Monday and Toews didn't skate on his own, then he missed Tuesday's morning skate prior to Tuesday night's game against the St. Louis Blues at the United Center. Toews will not play against the Blues, his 11th straight game out of the lineup.

Chciago is 5-4-1 in the previous 10 games since Toews left the lineup after a Feb. 19 game here against the Blues.

"He didn't skate today, he's here getting treatments," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "It's part of the process. Some days are better than others, but he knows his body and we'll see how he is."

Here's how the Blackhawks' lineup projects against the Blues:

Andrew Brunette - Patrick Kane - Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp - Marcus Kruger - Viktor Stalberg
Bryan Bickell - Dave Bolland - Andrew Shaw
Brandon Bollig - Jamal Mayers - Jimmy Hayes

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya - Nick Leddy
Niklas Hjalmarsson - Dylan Olsen

Ray Emery
Corey Crawford

CHICAGO -- Los Angeles Kings top-line forward Dustin Brown has a seven-game point streak going into Sunday night's road matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks (7 p.m., NBCSN) at the United Center.

He's recorded assists in three straight games and has five goals to go with six assists during the torrid stretch. Kings coach Darryl Sutter said it's come as the result of Brown's ability to play more of a vertical game with his skating instead of going horizontally, side to side, too often.

"Brown's been really solid," Sutter said after Sunday's optional morning skate. "He's got to play a straight-line game. If you see him going East to West on the ice, you'll know he's not on his game. He's got to play that North-South game."

Why?

"It allows him to play with power," Sutter said of the 6-0, 204-pound Brown. "When he does that, the nets are aligned for him. It's his game and he knows it. When he tries to do too much is when he gets out of his zone."

Brown, who's on the top line with star center Anze Kopitar and right wing Justin Williams, has scored 19 goals and added 23 assists in 68 games for the Kings.

CHICAGO -- Steve Montador has been out of the lineup for the Chicago Blackhawks for the past 15 games with an undisclosed upper body injury and will also miss Sunday night's home game against the Los Angeles Kings.

Montador, however, did participate in Chicago's optional morning skate -- which was his first time working out with teammates on the ice since incurring the injury, which is believed to be concussion-related.

Montador skated on his own a week ago, when the Hawks were on a three-game road trip, but didn't get on the ice this past week with his team at home until Sunday morning.

"I've never been out for this long during the regular season," said Montador, who's playing his 10th NHL season. "It's hard to just sit back and watch, I guess. When you feel like you're getting ready and then you're getting on the ice and have to take some time off, there's some psychological and emotional turbulence that goes with it. Certainly it was a challenge, but the overall trend has been pretty solid, which is exciting and encouraging for me."

How difficult has it been for him to not being around his teammates much and not play at all?

"The situation for me is kind of like any other[injury], although for me it's unique because it's the longest I've ever had throughout the middle of a season," Montador said. "That was just the biggest challenge for me, as far as seeing the guys play and expecting to be out there myself and practicing and being around the guys. Being around the guys was actually harder this time, because you feel like you want to join in and you're kind of left out obviously, because you're injured."

Montador, who said he's dealt with this kind of injury before in his career, was evasive about the nature of the ailment and gave no indication whether the speculation about it being concussion-related was accurate.

However, teammates Jonathan Toews and Niklas Hjalmarsson have also missed time recently with what's believed to be concussion-related injuries and Toews -- who's still out -- said it's been helpful to have a couple of teammates with similar injuries recovering at the same time. Either way, Montador said he's hoping to return before the end of the season -- which only has 13 games left in the regular season.

"That's my plan," he said on Sunday. "We've only got about a month or so left. I can't put an exact timetable on it, but I don't think I'm that far away."

Things might have changed on the Hawks blue line since Montador left the lineup, however. Rookie defenseman Dylan Olsen has stepped in and played very well, which will mean Hawks coach Joel Quenneville will have to make some decisions about who plays once Montador is ready to go again.

"We like tough decisions," Quenneville said. "We've had a couple times this year where we were short on the back end, but it [would give] us another option. He's got some versatility in his game, as well. We will be excited to have him back."

CHICAGO -- Jonathan Toews skated for the fourth straight day and third in a row with his Chicago Blackhawks teammates on Sunday morning at the United Center, which was another positive sign in his recovery from a concussion.

Toews will miss Sunday night's game against the visiting Los Angeles Kings, which will be his 10th straight game out of action, but he continues to feel optimistic about his eventual return. After Saturday's practice, Toews mentioned that he was hoping to be ready for Tuesday's home showdown against Central Division rival St. Louis, but qualified the statement by saying he was still just taking his availability on a day-to-day basis.

He said the pretty much same thing after Sunday's workout.

"About the same thing," the Hawks captain replied, when asked how he felt on Sunday. "I'm getting closer and closer as far as how I feel injurywise, but definitely can tell my conditioning needs some work. So, we'll work on that, too. I'm feeling better and better every day and more like myself out there. Just got to keep working through it."

As for the possibility of playing on Tuesday against the Blues?

"Like I said, every time we play a game I hope [to return] for that game," Toews said. "I'm not thinking about missing the game on Tuesday. I'm more focused on how this practice went and what I've got to do the rest of the day. I'm obviously not ready to play [right now]. If it comes to Tuesday and I feel the same way, I'll probably be saying the same thing. Let's just take it one day at a time."

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville mimicked that sentiment.

"He'll determine a lot of that," Quenneville said of Toews possibly playing on Tuesday. "He's got to pass some hurdles, as well. He's excited getting back on the ice. It was a long time coming for him and not [being] active like he'd like to be is probably frustrating for him. So, he's excited knowing he's out there and he's getting close."

One guy who's excited that Toews isn't quite ready yet is Los Angeles Kings coach Darryl Sutter, who will face the Hawks on Sunday night without having to worry about Chicago's dynamic captain.

"Well, he's kind of one of my favorite players," Sutter said. "So, it'd be nice to see him and not to coach against him.  He's probably the best two-way player in the NHL. [He's] a good faceoff man, good on the power play, good penalty killer, captain, plays 20 minutes, able to play a physical game but also plays the speed game. [It's] pretty tough to find anything like that. Nice to see him, but it's nice not playing him."

Toews said he hopes to get his clearance for contact in practice soon, however. Once that happens, both he and the Hawks ought to better know when he can return to playing in games.

"It's one step at a time," Toews said. "That might be the next step, so hopefully we can get that checked off the list here."

Toews was also asked if he's symptom free right now, which he said was not the case.

 "I wouldn't say I'm 100 percent," Toews said. "If I was, I'd be ready to push myself right to the limit to get back in the lineup. I'm still being smart and not rushing that too quickly, where I'm not quite 100 percent yet."

The fiery Hawks emotional leader is also not spending time getting his teammates fired up before home games that he's not able to play. His nickname is "Captain Serious" and it was assessed to him for a reason.

"If you're not playing, for the most part, you're worried about yourself and what you have to do to get yourself back in the lineup," Toews said. "For the guys [who] are playing, they've got their own routines and things to do to get ready. Kind of the last thing they want to get in the way is an injured guy who might be a little looser and more relaxed because he's not going through that same pressure that getting ready for a game puts on you. So, I'm not really that involved ... not as much as I'd like to be, I guess."

Here's a look at how the Kings and Blackhawks are expected to line up on Sunday night:

KINGS

Dustin Brown-Anze Kopitar-Justin Williams
Dwight King-Mike Richards-Jeff Carter
Dustin Penner-Jarret Stoll-Trevor Lewis
Brad Richardson-Colin Fraser-Kyle Clifford

Rob Scuderi-Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell-Slava Voynov
Alec Martinez-Matt Greene

Jonathan Quick
Jonathan Bernier


BLACKHAWKS

Andrew Brunette-Patrick Kane-Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp-Marcus Kruger-Viktor Stalberg
Bryan Bickell-Dave Bolland-Andrew Shaw
Jimmy Hayes-Jamal Mayers-Brandon Bollig

Duncan Keith-Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya-Nick Leddy
Nicklas Hjalmarsson-Dylan Olsen

Ray Emery
Corey Crawford

CHICAGO -- The Los Angeles Kings say they've completely forgotten about the gut punch they took on Friday night in Detroit, when a late one-goal lead and two standings points vanished in a matter of minutes before the final horn.

The Kings have moved onto their next game on Sunday night against the Chicago Blackhawks -- literally and figuratively speaking.

"We don't have any other choice," Los Angeles star center Anze Kopitar said after the Kings' optional morning skate at the United Center. "There's 14 games left and we're not in a position where we wanted to be, but we're still very much alive. We've got to look ahead. We can't worry about what happened on Friday or last month. We have to look ahead to [Sunday night] and focus on that."

That's because the Kings (31-25-12) come into the day's action 11th in the Western Conference, but just two points behind eighth-place Colorado for the last playoff spot. Calgary also has 74 points, while the San Jose Sharks have 75 in ninth. Only four points ahead of the Kings in seventh sit the Phoenix Coyotes, so these last 14 games ought to provide quite a bit of drama.

"We've been seventh to 11th since I've been here and two or three points either way," said Kings coach Darryl Sutter, a former Blackhawks player and coach who joined L.A. mid-season as Randy Carlyle's replacement. "It doesn't really change anything. You try to put an emphasis on each game and each game kind of takes on a life of its own. A couple teams have separated themselves at the top. A couple teams have separated themselves at the bottom. Everybody else is pretty much the same. It comes down to head-to-head [games] and move on."

Head to head against his former team has gone pretty well for Sutter thus far. He's faced the Blackhawks twice -- once at home and once here at the United Center -- and won both backed by shutouts from goalie Jonathan Quick.

In fact, Quick has faced the Hawks in each of the previous three games this season and allowed just two goals against 84 shots. Chicago will have to find a way to get him off his game on Sunday night, and it won't be easy -- Hawks captain and top-line center Jonathan Toews out for a 10th straight game with concussion symptoms.

"We've had a couple games against [the Kings] where we haven't been able to get any offense going," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "Our special teams last game weren't very effective and that's got to be a priority. We know we've got to get traffic and look for scrappy goals against this team because they play well, they check well and they play tight in their own end. That's basically got to be our thought process is getting through that area and then finding ways to score."

Chicago hasn't scored on the power play in its last two games, despite trending up with the man-advantage recently, so getting that unit working again is high on the list of things to do. Quenneville said he's probably going to see how newly-acquired defenseman Johnny Oduya looks on one of the points of the power play, but in general is looking for his team to get in Quick's way more often.

"Whether it's 5-on-5 or on the power play, we've got to get traffic, we've got to get through and penetrate that slot area kind of like we did against the Rangers [on Friday night]," Quenneville said. "Whether it's screens, tips, deflections, second opportunities or ugly goals ... that's what we've got to look for."

Ray Emery will start in net for the Blackhawks (37-25-7), who are sixth in the West standings with 81 points. Toews, who skated for the fourth straight day, won't play. Neither will Hawks defenseman Steve Montador, who skated for the first time in a week but is unavailable with an upper body injury that's believed to stem from a concussion.

Quick is expected to get the start for the Kings.

CHICAGO – It was another day of progress for Jonathan Toews on Saturday afternoon at the Chicago Blackhawks' practice facility just down West Madison Street from United Center.

The Hawks captain and top center was on the ice for a third straight day and second straight practice while recovering from a concussion that's kept him out for nine straight games.

That stretch will extend to 10 games missed Sunday night, when the Hawks play host to the Los Angeles Kings at  the Madhouse on Madison without their captain, but Toews is hopeful that he might be ready to go as soon as next Tuesday – when Chicago welcomes the St. Louis Blues.

"I always think that the next game is going to be the time, so I'd love to be in on Tuesday," Toews said. "But again, I've just got to focus on this afternoon, get a good rest tonight and worry about those little things right now ... the way I have been, just take it one step at a time and hopefully it's going to be sooner than later."

Toews has yet to be cleared for contact, however, so is Tuesday even a realistic goal?

"I think so," said Toews, who also had some fun skating around with two pee wee teams following Saturday's practice. "I keep telling myself that. You can shoot for a date like that, even if it's early. Obviously if you feel like you're improving and making strides, you notice a difference. This past week I was hoping for Sunday and now I'm realizing it's not going to happen. So, we'll shoot for [Tuesday] but again I'm going to tell [reporters] the same thing every day. We'll take it day by day and see what happens."

First he needs to get clearance from the team doctor for contact in practice.

"That's the real way of knowing I think," Toews said. "It's when you turn around the corner with a guy on you or you spin around and somebody hits you or just those things that kind of move you really fast. When you're doing full drills skating around the ice, you get your heart rate up eventually and you can kind of master that where the symptoms go away. But [contact] will be the real test, so we'll see when the time is for that."

As Toews alluded to, conditioning will be another factor. He has to get his heart rate up to game level and then not experience post-workout symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, feeling nauseous or lethargic.

So far, so good for Toews after three skates.

"People talk about setbacks and the last three days I don't feel like I've really had any, so that's a good thing," he said. "It's just the lungs that hurt a little bit."

That's not a surprise to any player who's gone through an extended absence from an injury mid-season. The good news for Toews is that he's renowned for his unrelenting physical conditioning efforts, which probably means less time needed to regain whatever he's lost by mostly just resting during the down period.

"They say you can lose it pretty quick, but a couple of skates like this it comes back just as fast, too," Toews said. "You've just got to be strong, push yourself through it and know that whenever that first game is going to be, it's not going to be easy, either."

Regardless, just having Toews continue to make progress is welcome news to the Blackhawks – who are treading water with a 5-4-0 mark in the nine games he's missed.

"He said he felt good and he felt good yesterday after the skate and then is progressing again today, so that's good," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "He'll tell us. You get the feel of your body throughout the day and progressing in the days afterwards, you get a little more accustomed to ... going into games and practices. They tell you when they're ready and hopefully it's soon."

Toews, however, will not rush his return. It's the second concussion the 23-year old star's brief NHL career and he's already taken in what happened to Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby -- who's missed the bulk of the past two seasons with concussion-related symptoms after taking two hits to the head in short amount of time last year.

Toews and Crosby share the same agent and have been in contact via text messages, but the Blackhawks center said there wasn't a lot of advice on how to deal with this injury dispensed.

"He's a good guy to look at to kind of remind yourself that it's not a good thing to rush," Toews said of Crosby. "He's the best there is in this game and I'm sure he wants to get back in there with his team as much as anybody. There's all sorts of pressure from all over for a guy like that to come back and maybe play through something like this. He's being smart about it and that's what you've got to do. That's one of those lessons you can learn that it's a pretty serious injury and he's gone about it the right way so far."

CHICAGO -- After he was dealt to the New York Rangers at the NHL's trade deadline on Feb. 27, former Chicago Blackhawks enforcer John Scott said he was shocked at the move.

Scott, in his second year of playing for the Hawks, was traded for a fifth-round pick in the NHL Draft this June. On Friday, he was already back in the Windy City with his new team a little more than a week after the deal was completed.

"It'll be weird in warmups, but I think that will go away as soon as the game starts," said Scott, whose wife and infant daughter remained in Chicago after the trade. "It's worn off by now, but it took a solid couple days just to take it all in and realize, 'Hey, I'm not in Chicago anymore. I'm in New York.' Change of venues. Change of scenery. It's sunk in now, and I'm used to it."

Scott, a defenseman by trade, spent time playing on the blue line and up front for the Hawks. He's found himself as a fourth-line forward for the Rangers and expects to stay there for the time being. He's played five straight games and could find himself back in the lineup on Friday night at the United Center against his old team thanks to an injury that will keep Brandon Dubinsky out for a second straight game.

"I fit in nicely on the fourth line," the 6-foot-8 Scott said. "We've been doing pretty well, getting some chances here and there. I didn't really want to mess things up. They had a good thing going when I got
there. I just went in there and tried to lay low and not mess up the winning ways they had going."

As for the talent that teams really love about him, his fighting acumen, Scott said he won't be surprised if several former teammates ask him to square off. After Scott's departure, Chicago recalled
6-foot-2, 225-pound rookie forward Brandon Bollig to fill the vacant fighting role -- and he's scrapped in two straight games.

"He'll probably ask me to go," Scott said. "They've got [Jamal Mayers] and [Andrew Shaw], so they've got a tough team and it's always a lively game versus Chicago. I won't turn anybody down, no."

Scott was informed that Hawks forward Bryan Bickell said he knew his former teammates' tricks during scraps, to which the new Rangers' tough guy kiddingly responded: "Well, I'll turn Bickell down then."

Scott never scored a goal for the Blackhawks, but found himself on a breakaway on Thursday night in Ottawa -- getting stopped by Ben Bishop. Scott said it was actually the second breakaway attempt of his NHL career, with the first happening against the Phoenix Coyotes when he was with the Minnesota Wild.

He didn't score on that one either.

"Oh my God, another breakaway," Scott said of Thursday's golden scoring opportunity. "[Bishop] is a big goalie. I tried to go low blocker, but he kicked it away.  I just missed the net the first time [against Phoenix]."

Scott will not only have his wife and in-laws at the United Center for Friday's game, but also some friends from California who originally planned the trip before he was traded.

Still, if you're going to get traded ...

"... it could've been to a worse place right?" Scott mused. "If I had a list of teams, this would probably been top three that I'd wanted to go to, so I was ecstatic when I heard it was the Rangers. I could've gone to a lot worse teams, that's for sure."

CHICAGO -- Jonathan Toews isn't ready to return from his concussion just yet, but the Chicago Blackhawks will get a key member of their team back from a similar injury Friday night at the United Center.

The Hawks will host the New York Rangers and will have defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson back in uniform for the first time in six games after he, too, has battled recent concussion symptoms. In fact, Hjalmarsson has missed 13 of the past 14 games because of his injury, after initially sitting out seven consecutive games because of it, then returning for a game and leaving the lineup again.

Hjalmarsson could be paired with rookie Dylan Olsen and will likely see time on the penalty kill, as well.

"It gives you important minutes," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said after Chicago's morning skate. "I think [he] defends as good as anybody in our own end. He can kill penalties for us and play important minutes."

Hjalmarsson has scored one goal to go with 11 assists in 55 games thus far, but he's got a plus-six rating and is consistent defensively. He also blocks shots well and returns to the lineup just in time to replace Sami Lepisto -- who is out "indefinitely" after sustaining a left leg injury in a 5-1 loss Tuesday in St. Louis.

The Hawks also picked up puck-moving defenseman Johnny Oduya before the trade deadline expired last month, which gives Quenneville some of that quality depth on the blue line that coaches crave this time of year. Chicago also has 40-year old Sean O'Donnell in its stable of defensemen.

"It's nice to have that predictability that [Hjalmarsson] provides us back there and with the recent addition of Johnny [Oduya] it helps with three solid pairs," Quenneville said. "Getting one more back there really helps us."

Chicago's Marian Hossa didn't participate in the team's morning skate Friday, but Quenneville said he will play against the Rangers. The same wasn't said about injured defenseman Steve Montador, who's been out for 14 straight games with what's believed to be a concussion.

Montador had been skating on his own last week, but hasn't been able to get on the ice this week. Quenneville deemed it a "sideways step or a backwards step" in his recovery process.

The Rangers, who lost 4-1 on Thursday night in Ottawa, didn't hold a morning skate. They played the Senators without forward Brandon Dubinsky, and he still might not be ready to go against Chicago.

If not, look for former Blackhawks enforcer John Scott -- who was dealt to New York on trade deadline day for a fifth-round pick in the 2012 NHL Draft -- to fill a spot on the fourth line. Ray Emery will get the start in net for the Hawks, while Henrik Lundqvist is expected to start for New York.

Here is a look at how the Rangers and Blackhawks might lineup on Friday night:

RANGERS
Artem Anisimov - Derek Stepan - Marian Gaborik
Carl Hagelin - Brad Richards - Ryan Callahan
Ruslan Fedotenko - Brian Boyle - Brandon Prust
Mike Rupp - John Mitchell - John Scott

Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Michael Del Zotto - Anton Stralman
Marc Staal - Stu Bickel

Henrik Lundqvist
Martin Biron

BLACKHAWKS
Andrew Brunette - Patrick Kane - Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp - Marcus Kruger - Viktor Stalberg
Bryan Bickell - Dave Bolland - Andrew Shaw
Jimmy Hayes - Jamal Mayers - Brandon Bollig

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya - Nick Leddy
Niklas Hjalmarsson - Dylan Olsen

Ray Emery
Corey Crawford

CHICAGO -- He'll miss another game when the New York Rangers come to town on Friday, but Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews took a signifcant step on Thursday toward returning to the ice.

Toews, who's been out for eight games with an upper-body injury believed to be concussion-related, skated on his own for the first time on Thursday since his injury was revealed after a Feb. 19 game against the St. Louis Blues.

"He had a good skate today," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "It was very exciting for us to see him back out here. He's encouraged as well, so it was a really good day."

Toews took the ice before the Hawks' practice, working out with strength and conditioning coach Paul Goodman, and felt OK afterward.

"He felt good," Quenneville said. "That's part of it, as well. It was a big first step seeing him out here."

The Hawks aren't ready to put a more definitive timetable on Toews' return other than "day-to-day," but just seeing him back on the ice was encouraging.

"After that, we'll certainly get a [better] idea to when he's closer," Quenneville said. "He's progressing. It was nice to see him."

Toews' teammates also felt encouraged.

"He looked pretty good," Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "It was good to see his face all red and sweating coming off the ice, like he'd just been working hard. Hadn't seen that in a while, so it was nice to see."

Fellow defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson also liked what he saw from the team's top-line center and emotional leader.

"It's a step in the right direction, for sure," he said. "I think he likes being out there, too, instead of just being in the gym doing whatever he's doing. It's probably nice just to go out on the ice again."

If anybody knows the feeling, it's Hjalmarsson -- who's "hopeful" to return against the Rangers from his own upper-body injury believed to stem from a concussion. Hjalmarsson has missed 13 of the past 14 games, including the last six in a row after returning for just one game from a seven-game absence and then leaving the lineup again.

Hjalmarsson said conditioning becomes a big part of the equation toward the tail end of the recovery process. Thus, he knows what kind of skating work Toews has ahead of him before he's cleared to return for games.

"It's pretty amazing how long it takes to get back in shape and how fast it goes away," Hjalmarsson said. "It usually takes awhile to get back into good shape."

In other Hawks-related injury news, fourth-line center Jamal Mayers didn't skate because of what Quenneville called a "maintenance day," while defensemen Sami Lepisto and Steve Montador also didn't participate.

According to Quenneville, Lepisto will be out "indefinitely" with a lower-body injury that occurred in the second period of Chicago's last game. St. Louis forward David Perron fell on his left leg and he had trouble putting weight on the leg as he left the ice gingerly.

Montador is also out with an upper-body injury believed to be concussion-related, but has been skating on his own recently.