The Blackhawks travel northeast to the Prudential Center in Newark to face the Devils tonight, looking to recapture their mojo after losing Thursday night in Dallas.
Chicago Blackhawks (17-12-5) at New Jersey Devils (20-9-5)
7:00PM Eastern/6PM Central
RADIO: WGN 720
TV: WGN/MSG+
PROJECTED GOALIES:
Chicago:
Corey Crawford (16-8-2, 2.18 GAA, .932 save%)
New Jersey
Cory Schneider (15-6-4, 2.61 GAA, .919 save%)
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:
Chicago (UPDATED 12:12PM Eastern)
Sharp-Toews-Saad
Schmaltz-Anisimov-Kane
DeBrincat-Hartman-Panik
Bouma-Wingels-Hayden
Keith-Oesterle
Forsling-Murphy
Kempny-Seabrook
New Jersey
Hall-Hischier-Palmieri
Johansson-Zajac-Gibbons
Wood-Zacha-Stafford
Coleman-Boyle-Noesen
Moore-Vatanen
Greene-Santini
Butcher-Severson
STATISTICAL COMPARISONS:
Power play:
Chicago 14.1% (29th)
New Jersey 20.6% (10th)
Penalty kill:
Chicago 83.0% (7th)
New Jersey 83.5% (5th)
Corsi For % (5-on-5):
Chicago 52.6% (6th)
New Jersey 47.3% (27th)
Faceoffs:
Chicago 48.3% (25th)
New Jersey 47.2% (29th)
SUMMARY:
The Hawks’ 4-0 loss in Dallas could only be described as sobering—abruptly snapping a 5-game win streak and resurrecting some fundamental concerns over whether Chicago is even a playoff team this year.
How things have changed since previous seasons.
The Devils, by contrast, are one of the league’s better teams, so far this season anyway, and beat the Hawks in Chicago on November 12, in a wild 7-5 affair, where New Jersey forward Miles Wood recorded a hat trick.
So this is a big test for Chicago. The improvement in the Hawks play during their win streak was legitimate. And their underlying stats in the Dallas loss were not bad. But they need to regain their footing tonight against a very good team in their building.
We’ll recap later tonight. Don’t forget to register for our message boards at the bottom of this page—and join the conversation.
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