CHICAGO -- St. Louis Blues forward Brenden Morrow will miss the remainder of the team's Western Conference first-round series with the Chicago Blackhawks because of a lower-body injury, coach Ken Hitchcock said Wednesday.
Morrow appeared in Games 1 and 3 for the Blues. He had no points, a zero rating and an average of 12:35 of ice time in the two games. He had 13 goals, 12 assists and a plus-1 rating in 71 regular-season games.
Hitchcock was not definitive Wednesday morning on whether forward David Backes, who did not participate in the morning skate, would play in Game 4. However, Backes was scratched before the Blues' 4-3 OT loss Wednesday night. Backes also missed Game 3 due to an upper-body injury he suffered on a hit by Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook in Game 2.
Seabrook served the second game of his three-game suspension for the hit in Game 4.
"He wasn't available for the pregame skate," Hitchcock said of Backes earlier Wednesday. "He's not going to play unless he's healthy. So you never know. He could be skating in another rink. He could be doing something else. You don't know that stuff. There's a lot of rinks here in Chicago. He could be doing other things.
"He's not going in the lineup unless he's a player. If he's a player, the way he plays is going to have a huge impact on the series. So if he skated somewhere else and is in fine-tune conditioning, you'll see him tonight."
Backes had 27 goals, 30 assists, a plus-14 rating and an average ice time of 19:33 in 74 regular-season games this season. He had one assist in the first two games against the Blackhawks.
