Senators at Blackhawks projected lineups
7:30 p.m. ET; CHSN, SN, TVAS
Senators projected lineup
Brady Tkachuk — Tim Stutzle — Claude Giroux
David Perron — Josh Norris — Drake Batherson
Noah Gregor — Shane Pinto — Michael Amadio
Angus Crookshank — Adam Gaudette — Matthew Highmore
Jake Sanderson — Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot — Nick Jensen
Travis Hamonic — Nikolas Matinpalo
Linus Ullmark
Anton Forsberg
Scratched: Jacob Bernard-Docker
Injured: Nick Cousins (knee), Tyler Kleven (lower body)
Blackhawks projected lineup
Colton Dach — Connor Bedard — Frank Nazar
Teuvo Teravainen — Ryan Donato — Ilya Mikheyev
Landon Slaggert — Andreas Athanasiou — Tyler Bertuzzi
Patrick Maroon — Lukas Reichel — Craig Smith
Alex Vlasic — Louis Crevier
Ethan Del Mastro — Connor Murphy
Wyatt Kaiser — Alec Martinez
Arvid Soderblom
Spencer Knight
Scratched: Petr Mrazek, TJ Brodie
Injured: Laurent Brossoit (knee), Jason Dickinson (high ankle sprain), Nick Foligno (back), Philipp Kurashev (hand)
Status report
The Senators will dress the same lineup they used in a 5-4 shootout loss at the Washington Capitals on Monday … Forwards Dickinson, Foligno and Kurashev each took part in the Blackhawks morning skate Wednesday wearing a non-contact jersey. … Soderblom will start after Knight made 41 saves in his Chicago debut on Monday, a 5-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings … Mrazek, a goalie, will be scratched for the second straight game.
SENATORS (30-25-5) at BLACKHAWKS (19-35-7)
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Protest the Hero: Blackhawks vs. Senators Preview
The Blackhawks continue their homestand on Wednesday night as they face off against the Senators for the first time this season.
For as much as everyone likes to point at the Buffalo Sabres and (ewww) Detroit Red Wings as cautionary tales in regard to the length of rebuilds, the Senators might actually be the shining example that getting the majority of your drafting decisions right doesn’t necessarily equate to a linear path to contention, and the Hawks will get an up-close look at that team when it visits the United Center on Wednesday night.
Ottawa has selected two of the best young forwards in hockey in Tim Stutzle (19 G, 44 A in 60 GP), and media darling Brady Tkachuk (23 G, 23 A in 58 GP), and matched them with a strong supporting cast of homegrown scorers like Drake Batherson (16 G, 31 A in 60 GP), and Shane Pinto (14 G, 11 A in 48 GP). They’ve also drafted two strong puck-moving defensemen in Jake Sanderson (6 G, 34 A in 59 GP) — who had a minor coming out party during the 4 Nations — and Thomas Chabot (5 G, 29 A in 59 GP), to help construct a solid and defensively responsible back end.
Their recent Achilles heel was their starting goaltending, which they addressed last summer by trading for 2023 Vezina winner Linus Ullmark. And while Ullmark hasn’t been quite the goalie he was in Boston (I think the Panthers took an irreplaceable chunk out of everyone on that “historic” Bruins squad), he’s still a top-20 starter in Goals Saved Above Expected, and both his goals against average (2.71), and save percentage (.911), are firmly better than league average. The Senators are a top-10 team in goals against per game, and Ullmark is a significant part of the reason why.
Ottawa has also tried a flurry of aggressive moves in the last few years, with varying degrees of success. Their trades for Alex DeBrincat and Jakob Chychrun both look like significant misses in hindsight. Ditto for the Vlad Tarasenko signing. But Claude Giroux has been everything they could have asked for and more. The point is they’ve absolutely been going for it for multiple seasons now, and yet the last time they were in the playoffs (2017), so were the Blackhawks.
Entering the game tonight, the Senators sit one point behind the Red Wings for the final Wild Card spot in the East, and they’re one of the six teams currently fighting it out for that slot who are all only separated by a grand total of four points. This is the closest they’ve been to relevance in eight seasons and, while Stutzle is trying his best to drag them there by himself — he’s in the midst of a 12-game point streak (4 G, 14 A) — Ottawa has gone just 1-5-1 in their last seven, with their lone win coming against the Sharks. Below is their most recent lineup, which lost 5-4 in the shootout to the Washington Capitals on Monday night.
Meanwhile, the Blackhawks are suddenly masquerading like they’re an offensive juggernaut. Don’t look now, but they’ve scored 16 goals in their last three games, and at least five goals in five of their last eight. Obviously, the problem all along was either Seth Jones or Nick Foligno (why not both?!?).
What makes the sudden scoring surge all the more baffling is that none of it is coming from Connor Bedard. Not only has Bedard been pointless in the last six games — which is by far the longest scoring drought of his young career (his previous high was three games) — but he’s also managed a measly 11 shots in those six games as well.
So how are they scoring so much all of a sudden? Let’s start with Teuvo Teravainen, who currently trails Bedard by a single point for the team lead. I think we’ve all been pleasantly surprised by how effective Teuvo has been offensively this season (14 G, 34 A), but I don’t know that any of us realized just how good he’s been lately:
Just behind Teuvo is Ryan Donato (22 G, 23 A), who could be traded any second now. Donato is on a spectacularly timed heater, scoring 16 points (7 G, 9A) in his last 10 games. His recent surge has also placed him in some lofty company from league-wide perspective:
Aside from that, Anders Sorensen’s system change continues to reward his defenders as they’ve now scored 21 goals in his 34 games as head coach, after only scoring five goals through Luke Richardson’s 26-game tenure. Ethan Del Mastro and Wyatt Kaiser have been especially active of late, which seems like no coincidence, as it correlates directly with a steady increase in ice time for both players.
The morning skate suggests another kid-heavy lineup, with TJ Brodie appearing to be the odd man out on the blue line. Up front, Colton Dach joins Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar on the top line, providing a slightly different kid line that should still be interesting to watch. Landon Slaggert drops down to the left wing opposite Tyler Bertuzzi with Andreas Athansiou in the middle of that trio. Spencer Knight will have the (k)night off, apparently, with Arvid Soderblom the expected starter.
Let’s go Hawks.
Blackhawks — Statistic — Senators
43.83% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 50.43% (14th)
42.91% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 49.36% (20th)
2.75 (25th) — Goals per game — 2.82 (21st)
3.48 (30th) — Goals against per game — 2.85 (10th)
44.8% (31st) — Faceoffs — 52.8% (4th)
25.9% (6th) — Power play — 23.5% (11th)
81.3% (9th) — Penalty kill — 77.1% (19th)
(All stats from this season)
When: 6:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720
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Blackhawks Game 62: Colton Dach Promoted, Lines, Notes, & How to Watch vs Senators
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Chicago Blackhawks (18-35-7, 43 pts) vs Ottawa Senators (30-25-5, 65 pts)
6:30 pm – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Chelios)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)/LMN 1200 AM (Esparza/Moreno)
The Chicago Blackhawks will try for their second three-game winning streak of the season when they host the Ottawa Senators tonight. They have scored 16 goals in their last three games, and didn’t factor in any of them. That is concerning for obvious reasons but also encouraging at the same time because it shows the Blackhawks don’t need Bedard to drive everything.
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