CHICAGO -- Despite looking wobbly leaving the ice after one period and not returning to a 3-0 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford was back on the ice Friday at United Center for an optional morning skate.

Ray Emery, who was named the National Hockey League’s third star for February on Friday, relieved Crawford for the final two periods and preserved the win and shutout, Chicago’s second in the past three games.

Prior to playing the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night (8:30 p.m. ET, NHLN-US), Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Crawford was feeling better and would be on the bench as Emery’s backup.

“Corey’s fine,” Quenneville said. “He skated this morning. I think they both could go today if they [had] to, but Ray did a nice job. The decision-making going into games, into these three games in 3-1/2 days here, this was kind of the plan. We’re going to have Corey and Ray [available] tonight and we’ll go from there.”

CHICAGO -- The Columbus Blue Jackets were already short two regular defensemen when they took the ice Friday at United Center for their morning skate.

The shortage got even worse when defenseman John Moore left the ice surface earlier than expected and was pronounced out of Friday night's game against the Chicago Blackhawks (7:30 p.m. CT, NHLN-US) with an undisclosed upper-body injury.

The Blue Jackets recalled defenseman Dalton Prout from Springfield of the American Hockey League, but his flight isn't scheduled to arrive in Chicago until early evening. Prout might not arrive at United Center until just before the game's start or later.

There is no "Plan B" if Prout can't get to the arena in time.

CHICAGO -- Eight days after a scary collision at Joe Louis Arena left Columbus Blue Jackets center Artem Anisimov motionless on the ice, he will get back into a game Friday night at United Center.

Anisimov, a big-bodied Russian forward, will have missed three games because of the upper-body injury that stemmed from the incident against the Detroit Red Wings. He will center a line between Matt Calvert and Cam Atkinson on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET), when Columbus plays the Chicago Blackhawks (17-0-3), who haven't lost in regulation and have twice beaten the Blue Jackets (5-12-3) in a pair of one-goal games.

"He hasn't done a whole lot leading up to it, so we're going to have to be smart in how we manage his minutes," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "He needs to be really solid 5-on-5 and then we'll go from there. If his energy's good and he feels good, we can start using him maybe on the power play or penalty kill, as well. [Just] having that big presence up the middle of the ice, some size and some skill, [is good for us]."

CHICAGO – They haven't lost a single game in regulation through the first 18 games, their goal differential is an astounding plus-23 prior to playing the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night at United Center, and still the Chicago Blackhawks insist they can take it up a notch.

"We should think we're not anywhere near as good as we can be – and have to be – [in order] to be effective," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said following a tough 1-0 home win on Sunday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. "There's not a lot of negative things [to criticize], but there were some things [against Columbus] … we want to look to improve our team situation, game in and game out. Let's want to get better."

The win against Columbus upped Chicago's current National Hockey League record string of games to start a season with at least a point to 18 straight, but the Blackhawks sound tired of talking about it.

CHICAGO – Corey Crawford didn't allow a goal and picked up his eighth victory on Sunday night at United Center, but Ray Emery will be in goal for the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night against the Edmonton Oilers.

Chicago (15-0-3) still hasn't lost a game in regulation and is riding a National Hockey League record streak of 18 games with at least a point earned to start a season.

Emery (7-0-0) and Crawford (8-0-3) have both been outstanding options for Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, who watched the latter pick up his second shutout of the season in a 1-0 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday – which was his first game back since the injury occurred Feb. 12 against the Anaheim Ducks.

The Edmonton Oilers are swapping forwards on the injured reserve list.

Lennart Petrell passed his concussion protol testing on Sunday night, which clears him to return to the active lineup for Monday night’s game in Chicago (8:30 p.m. ET). Going to the injured reserve list with a sore shoulder is Teemu Hartikainen, according to Oilers coach Ralph Krueger – who met with reporters after Edmonton’s morning skate on Monday at United Center.

“Lennart Petrell cleared his test last night and we’ve got him back in the lineup,” Krueger told Oilers.com. “We’ve had to put Teemu Hartikainen on IR. His shoulder worsened after the last game. Maybe he cheered to hard after the last goal. I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but truly he’s been playing with a lot of pain and it’s an injury that needs a break, need a rest, and needs some regeneration.”

CHICAGO – Maybe if it were any other team coming into United Center on Monday night, the Chicago Blackhawks might get caught napping.

It will be Chicago’s third game in four days and with each win or point, the Blackhawks now just extend their own NHL record for consecutive games to start a season with at least a point – which stands at 18 straight contests. There’s got to be a letdown at some point, but the team in the visiting dressing room this time might be enough to prevent it on Monday night.

The Edmonton Oilers walloped Chicago twice at Rexall Place last season and the Blackhawks haven’t forgotten.y)

CHICAGO – Corey Crawford is healthy once again for the Chicago Blackhawks and will get the start on Sunday night at United Center against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Ray Emery started three straight games while Crawford sat out with an upper-body injury and also drew the start in Friday night's NHL-record setting 2-1 victory against the San Jose Sharks – which pushed Chicago's unprecedented start to 17 straight games with at least one point earned.

Corey Crawford

Goalie - CHI

RECORD: 7-0-3
GAA: 1.65 | SVP: 0.935

"Corey was going very well there, too, prior to getting injured, so it's good to have both guys back," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We've got back-to-back games. We're just looking at [Sunday's] game. It's good to have Corey back and Ray did an excellent job, like our goaltending has all year."

CHICAGO – The Columbus Blue Jackets have lost another integral part of their starting lineup after defenseman Jack Johnson was put on injured reserve Sunday morning.

Johnson is currently listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury after being injured in the first period of a 2-1 loss on Saturday night in St. Louis. The Blue Jackets (5-11-2) will be the next team trying to give the Chicago Blackhawks (14-0-3) their first regulation loss in a game Sunday night at United Center.

Johnson, who’d been playing on the second pairing with Adrian Aucoin, missed a couple of shifts toward the end of the first period against the Blues on Saturday night, then tried to play at the start of the second. He left the ice 6:47 into the second and didn’t return.

The Blue Jackets, who are also without forwards Brandon Dubinsky (knee sprain) and Artem Anisimov (upper-body), recalled forward Ryan Johansen from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Sunday morning to take Johnson’s place.

CHICAGO -- There were 24 players who participated in Friday's morning skate for the Chicago Blackhawks, which meant good news for a number of injured players in various stages of the recovery process.

The biggest news of the day was star forward Marian Hossa skating for the second straight day after taking a big blow to the back of his head on Tuesday night against Vancouver, but there were other storylines of note. One was starting goalie Corey Crawford (undisclosed upper-body injury), who will return to the bench to back up Ray Emery on Friday night against the San Jose Sharks (8-4-3) at United Center.

It was his second straight team workout and first morning skate since leaving the lineup four games ago.

"I feel good," Crawford said. "I had a pretty good practice [Thursday] and I had to get the timing down a little bit. I felt better today for timing, so I feel ready. I'm 100 percent now."