Chicago Blackhawks (6-4-3) at Edmonton Oilers (6-4-1)
8:00pm Central, 7:00pm Mountain
Rogers Place
TV/Radio: NBCSCH/WGN
PROJECTED GOALIES:
Chicago – Cam Ward (3-1-3 W-L, 3.91 GAA, .889 SV%)
Edmonton – Mikko Koskinen (1-0-0 W-L, 3.05 GAA, .889 SV%)
Team statistics:
Power Play
Chicago (26th – 13.95%)
Edmonton (15th – 21.95%)
Penalty Kill
Chicago (18th – 77.5%)
Edmonton (28th – 69.44%)
Shots for/against per game
Chicago (7th, 33.6% – 23rd, 33.2%)
Edmonton (22nd, 30.5% – 8th, 29.4%)
Shooting%
Chicago (T-14th – 9.8%)
Edmonton (T-17th, 9.5%)
Faceoff%
Chicago (18th, 49.6%)
Edmonton (T-23rd, 48.4%)
Avg. height/weight
Chicago
6’0” 195lbs
Edmonton
6’1” 196lbs
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:
Chicago Blackhawks
Alex DeBrincat – Jonathan Toews – Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
Alexandre Fortin – Luke Johnson – Nick Schmaltz
Chris Kunitz – David Kampf – John Hayden
Duncan Keith – Henri Jokiharju
Erik Gustafsson – Brent Seabrook
Brandon Manning – Brandon Davidson
Edmonton Oilers
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Kailer Yamamoto
Tobias Rieder – Leon Draisaitl – Alex Chiasson
Milan Lucic – Ryan Strome – Drake Caggiula
Jujhar Khaira – Kyle Brodziak – Zack Kassian
Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse – Kris Russell
Jason Garrison – Matt Benning
Analysis:
The Blackhawks waste no time, after the previous night’s loss in Vancouver, heading to Edmonton to face the young high flying Oilers.
They come into Edmonton riding a three game losing streak, and are facing the Oilers for the second time in four days. Sunday night the two teams fought to a 2-1 overtime finish, with the Oilers eventually prevailing.
Patrick Kane should make his return to the lineup after sitting out Wednesday night with an illness, and Marcus Kruger should also be returning after his night off spent in Coach Joel Quenneville‘s revolving door at Chateau de Bow Wow.
Forward Brandon Saad is coming off one of his best games of the season. He could have easily had a hat trick last night against the Canucks. A solid rocket off the goal post and a negated goal (kicking violation) are the only things that kept him from totaling three by the end of the night.