Jarnkrok will take warm-up, but remains game-time decision

Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe and Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson held media availabilities at the United Center on Friday morning. 

Leafs winger Calle Jarnkrok remains a game-time decision. The veteran winger took an Auston Matthews shot off the leg at Wednesday's practice and sat out Thursday's workout. 

"He's feeling OK," said coach Sheldon Keefe. "He's going to get out there and try it, but he's going to be a game-time decision. We'll have to see how it is in warm-up."

All of Toronto's extra players will be on the ice for warm-up, including forward Alex Steeves, who was called up yesterday. Steeves leads the Toronto Marlies with 11 goals and 18 points through 14 games. 

"He's done a really nice job of scoring and being a consistent offensive threat," said Keefe. "They've been happy with him down there more than with his scoring, but how his overall game is. With Jarnkrok's question mark, we needed to get a guy and he was somewhat of an obvious one. He was a little bit banged-up and missed a game here recently, but says he's alright. He'll be out there in warm-up today, but not expected to play."

Defenceman Conor Timmins was activated from long term injured reserve and make his season debut in Chicago. 

Defenceman John Klingberg was placed on long term injured reserve yesterday, which means he'll be out until at least Dec. 12. 

"He's dealing with it well," said Keefe. "I saw him yesterday and he's continuing to work through things here ... now the decision's made to just give him more time to sort through everything and I don't think we'll see any sort of clarity on exactly his timeline or anything like that here in the near future. He's in good spirits, but he wants to play and he's a competitor." 

After being a surprising scratch on Wednesday, Blackhawks winger Corey Perry will miss a second straight game due to an organizational decision. 

"I'm unable to give any more information at this time," said coach Luke Richardson. "Hopefully we'll be able to give updates soon, but we can't give a timeline on that."

Perry is third on the Blackhawks in scoring and a popular teammate. His absence is a blow to a team that has dropped five straight in regulation and is 31st overall in the standings.  

"It's professional hockey," Richardson stressed. "We make lineup changes all the time. We had to do it with [the injured] Taylor Hall as well. We got a strong leadership group and we're going to count on them to really pull us through today."

Arvid Soderblom starts for the Blackhawks. He has just one win in seven starts this season although it came against the Leafs last month in Toronto.