"Roughly halfway through the Blackhawks' Monday practice, defenseman Nick Boynton turned toward the goal and, from behind, winger Marian Hossa banged into his teammate in a collision that did not look particularly startling.

Then Boynton stayed on the ice, face-down. As did Hossa. After a few moments, Boynton skated off grimacing. But Hossa couldn't make it to the wall without two members of the medical staff propping up the star winger, one under each shoulder.

Welcome home, Hawks.

The Blues visit Tuesday for the first game at the United Center since Nov. 14, and that may not feature Hossa, the team's fourth-leading scorer.

He was undergoing treatment during post-practice interviews, and by the close of that session, a team spokesman had no update. Hawks coach Joel Quenneville was attending the funeral of longtime NHL coach Pat Burns, so there wasn't even an official guess on Hossa's availability.

"I was facing backward, and yeah, he ran into me," Boynton said. "I'm not sure what happened.

"I just kind of got the wind knocked out of me, personally, so I'm not sure if he got the worse end of the stick or what happened. We both obviously didn't see each other, I don't think. So I'm not sure what's up."

Crawford gets nod: Quenneville also wasn't around to be cagey about his goalie choice for Tuesday night, so Marty Turco handled that for him.

Per the veteran netminder, Corey Crawford is expected to get the start against the Blues, after starting three of the last four games on the circus trip and winning all three. Crawford surrendered just three goals total in those three starts.

"Corey's going to play, I think, and he should," Turco said. "He's been playing great, he's been playing great all year, has won a few in a row. We want to get on a roll. I'm here to win, no matter what."