Minnesota Wild (12-6-2) at Chicago Blackhawks (7-8-5)

5:00pm Central
United Center
TV/Radio: NHL Network, WGN/WGN

PROJECTED STARTERS

Chicago – Corey Crawford (4-6-1, SV%: 0.916 GAA: 2.57)
Minnesota – Alex Stalock (3-1-0, SV%: 0.905 GAA: 2.73)

TEAM STATISTICS

Power Play
Chicago (13.1%, 30th)
Minnesota (21.2%, 13th)

Penalty Kill
Chicago (75.0%, T-25th)
Minnesota (85.7%, 4th)

Shorts for/against
Chicago (32.6, 11^th, 33.0, 25th)
Minnesota (31.1, T-18th, 31.3, T-13th)

Shooting %
Chicago (8.1%, 26th)
Minnesota (10.3%, 9th)

Faceoff %
Chicago (50.1%, 16^th)
Minnesota (52.0%, 6th)

Avg. height/weight
Chicago 6’1”, 195lbs
Minnesota 6’1” 203lbs

PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS

Chicago Blackhawks

Brandon Saad–Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat–Artem Anisimov–Nick Schmaltz
Alexandre Fortin–David Kampf–Dominik Kahun
Andreas Martinsen–Marcus Kruger–John Hayden
Duncan Keith–Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson–Henri Jokiharju
Gustav Forsling–Jan Rutta

Minnesota

Zach Parise–Mikko Koivu–Nino Niederreiter
Jason Zucker–Eric Staal–Mikael Granlund
Marcus Foligno–Charlie Coyle–Jordan Greenway
Eric Fehr–Matt Hendricks–J.T. Brown
Ryan Suter–Mathew Dumba
Jonas Brodin–Jared Spurgeon
Nick Seeler–Greg Pateryn

 Analysis

The Chicago Blackhawks host the Minnesota Wild on “Hockey Fights Cancer” for the teams second matchup of the season. The Wild beat the Hawks 4-3 in overtime on October 11th.

Corey Crawford enters tonight’s game having stopped 59 of 60 shots faced over his past two starts. The 33-year old goaltender kept his team in both games – the offense garnered only 2 goals combined –  and came away with three out of four points.

The Wild will turn to their backup goalie Alex Stalock, after losing 3-2 in Buffalo last night with Devan Dubnyk in net. Minnesota will take the short trip to Chicago after hosting the Sabres.

Forward Mikael Granlund leads the Wild in goals (10) and points (19). The 26-year old Finnish winger has played an excellent two-way game for the surprising Wild (12-5-2).

Tonight will be Ed Olczyk‘s “One Last Shift” before the matchup. The former Blackhawk’s forward turned TV analyst, and recent cancer survivor, skated in Chicago for three seasons over his sixteen year career.

Another cancer awareness story comes from Brandon Davidson as he shared his story after being diagnosed in 2012:

#Blackhawks defenseman Brandon Davidson reflects on his battle with cancer, how hockey helped him through his darkest days and more. #HockeyFightsCancer https://t.co/xLE3weS2FO

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 18, 2018

Comment below in our live game thread tonight!

And look for the internet’s most robust recap of the game tomorrow morning on the-rink.com. 

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