Preview: Blackhawks at Capitals

  

The Blackhawks take a shaky record and psyche—along with some wacky, freshly-blended lines—to Washington tonight where they face the Capitals.

 

Chicago Blackhawks (12-10-5) at Washington Capitals (16-11-1)

8:00 PM Eastern/7 Central

RADIO: WGN 720

TV: NBC Sports

 

PROJECTED GOALIES:

Chicago:

Anton Forsberg (1-3-3, 3.01 GAA, .914 save%)

Washington:

Braden Holtby (14-6-0, 2.63 GAA, .919 save%)

 

PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:

CHICAGO

Hartman-Toews-Hayden

Saad-Anisimov-Kane

Bouma-Schmaltz-DeBrincat

Sharp-Wingels-panik

Keith-Franson

Murphy-Seabrook

Forsling-Rutta

WASHINGTON

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson

Vrana-Kuznetsov-Chiasson

Connolly-Eller-Boyd

Stephenson-Beagle-DSP

Orlov-Niskanen

Orpik-Carlson

Djoos-Bowey

 

STATISTICAL COMPARISONS:

Power play:

Chicago 16.1% (29th)

Washington 21.7% (15th)

Penalty kill:

Chicago 84.4%% (4th)

Washington 78.0% (22nd)

Corsi For % (5-on-5):

Chicago 51.4% (10th)

Washington 48.0% (23rd)

Faceoffs:

Chicago 48.5% (25th)

Washington 52.2% (6th)

 

SUMMARY:

Just in time for yet another game against a good team that’s given the Hawks trouble in recent years, and this a road game, Joel Quenneville has to go and liquefy his lines again.

There’s been some pretty sound analysis of these moves elsewhere the last couple of days, so I won’t go into too much detail (at the-rink, we don’t “borrow” from other writers or bloggers) on my feelings on these ines. But I will say, I think the success or failure of this new configuration rests with the Toews line.

We can argue til the cows come home whether Brandon Saad meshes with Patrick Kane, but the fact is, the team’s three best forwards are on the Kane-Anisimov-Saad line, and all three players are slotted in their natural positions—they should be fine.

I like Nick Schmaltz as a center over left wing—even if most nights he is terrible on faceoffs. He and Alex DeBrincat may have chemistry as two righty sticks—Schmaltz the consummate pass first player, ADB the shooter-finisher. Lance Bouma? Meh, OK, he’ll create space and maybe keep the troublemakers off the backs of the other two.

As a team, the Hawks need to simply play better, and with a few days rest under their belts, they should.

If Anton Forsberg plays as well tonight as he has so far in place of an injured Corey Crawford, the Hawks will have at least a puncher’s chance.

We’ll recap in the AM.

 

Follow: @jaeckel

adsense

Center Ice Forums Preview: Blackhawks at Capitals

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #1517
    John Jaeckel
    Participant

    The Blackhawks take a shaky record and psyche—along with some wacky, freshly-blended lines—to Washington tonight where they face the Capitals.  
    [To continue reading full post by doublej click: Preview: Blackhawks at Capitals]

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.