Chicago Blackhawks at New York Islanders Preview & Game Thread

  

Chicago Blackhawks (30-34-9)

at

New York Islanders (31-33-10)

TIME: 6PM Central/7PM Eastern
RADIO: WGN 720
TV: MSG+, WGN

PROJECTED GOALIES:

Chicago:
Anton Forsberg (9-16-3 W-L | 3.06 GAA | 0.905 SV% | 0 SO)

New York:
Jaroslav Halak (18-25-6 W-L | 3.27 GAA | 0.906 SV% | 1 SO)

PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:

Chicago:
Matthew Highmore – Nick Schmaltz – Patrick Kane
Brandon Saad – Vinnie Hinostroza – Alex DeBrincat
Tomas Jurco – Artem Anisimov – Andreas Martinsen
Patrick Sharp – David Kampf – John Hayden

Duncan Keith – Jan Rutta
Erik Gustafsson – Brent Seabrook
Jordan Oesterle – Connor Murphy

New York:
Anders Lee – John Tavares – Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier – Mathew Barzal – Jordan Eberle
Andrew Ladd – Brock Nelson – Tanner Fritz
Chris Wagner – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck

Nick Leddy – Johnny Boychuk
Adam Pelech – Dennis Seidenberg
Thomas Hickey – Ryan Pulock

STATISTICAL COMPARISONS:

Power Play:
Chicago 15.8% (28th)
New York 22.6% (5th)

Penalty Kill:
Chicago 79.5% (19th)
New York 74.5% (31st)

Corsi FOR % (5-on-5):
Chicago 52.94% (4th)
New York 56.26% (26th)

Faceoffs:
Chicago 49.8% (17th)
New York 48.6% (25th)

SUMMARY:

With under 10 games remaining in the season, the Blackhawks head out on a short one game road swing in New York, to face the Islanders.  This season has been very similar for both of these franchises.  They are highly underperforming, but have some light at the end of the tunnel with some young promising players.

For the Blackhawks, they have rookie Alex DeBrincat while the Islanders have super rookie of their own Mathew Barzal.  Both seem to have really bright futures in this league.

The similarities don’t stop there.  Both teams have had serious goaltending issues.  One (Blackhawks) because of injury, and the other because of pure lack of talent.

Something to keep an eye it for is former Blackhawks players Andrew Ladd, and Nick Leddy possibly looking to make an impression on their former team.

Another key stat to keep in mind is the Islanders last ranked penalty kill unit.  In all reality, the Blackhawks should be able to feast in the putrid PK, but they have struggled mightily universally all season.

Join our discussion below and look out for a Double J recap following the game, tomorrow.

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