Blackhawks’ Andrew Mangiapane out week-to-week with lower-body injury

The Chicago Blackhawks will be without one of their veteran depth scoring wingers for the foreseeable future, as head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters, including Ben Pope of The Chicago Sun-Times, on Monday that Andrew Mangiapane is out of the lineup on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury.

Mangiapane suffered the injury early in the second period of Chicago’s season-opening game against the Vegas Golden Knights. He exited the contest having recorded a shot on goal and a hit apiece while also taking a minor penalty in just 5:23 of time on ice.

Mangiapane is starting off his first full season in the Windy City after coming over from the Edmonton Oilers in a mid-season trade from last year that sent forwards Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach to Alberta.

The 30-year-old notched a pair of points in the 10 games in which he played for the Blackhawks after the trade, prior to which he had notched 14 points in 52 contests with the Oilers.

After spending the first seven season of his career with the Calgary Flames, Mangiapane has become something of a journeyman recently, having played for the Washington Capitals in addition to Edmonton and Chicago over the past two-plus seasons.

With new captain and star forward Connor Bedard sidelined with a shoulder injury, the Blackhawks have gotten off to a highly disappointing 0-3-0 start to the new season. A 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights on the NHL’s Opening Night gave way to a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of the Utah Mammoth last Thursday. A three-game road trip to open the season wrapped up with a 4-3 regulation loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

At minus-10, Chicago owns the second-worst goal differential in the entire league. The Blackhawks will look to get their season back on track on Tuesday night when the St. Louis Blues pay a visit to the United Center for Chicago’s home opener.