Coyote’s status up in the air

Phoenix goalie Mike Smith missed practice before the Coyotes took off for Chicago and his status for Game 3 in the rugged and physical opening-round playoff series was unclear Monday.

Smith was peppered with 95 shots in the first two games, turning away 89. Chicago scored in the waning seconds of each game, forced overtime twice and earned a split. Smith was also knocked to the ice in Game 2 after a collision with Chicago rookie Andrew Shaw behind the net. After several minutes, he stayed in the game.

Hard to image Smith not in goal for the Coyotes tonight in Chicago.

“He’s been tough to get pucks past,” Blackhawks defenceman Brent Seabrook said. “We’re putting a lot of pucks on Smith, he’s a great goaltender.”

Shaw was the first black hawks skater on the ice for Monday’s practice. He was scheduled for a hearing with the league about his collision with Smith, one he reiterated was unintentional and unavoidable.

“If you look, my eyes were focused on the puck, and I was leaning forward to get to the puck. When he turned to fire it my way, I kind of panicked — I didn’t want to get hit in the face,” Shaw said.