Chicago Blackhawks (7-6-2) at Philadelphia Flyers (7-6-2)
7PM Eastern/6PM Central
RADIO: WGN 720
TV: NBC Sports Chicago/NBCS Philadelphia
PROJECTED GOALIES:
Chicago:
Corey Crawford (7-5-0, 1.77 GAA, .945 save%)
Philadelphia:
Brian Elliott (5-3-1, 3.11 GAA, .892 save%)
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:
Chicago
Sharp-Toews-Kane
Saad-Anisimov-Panik
Debrincat-Schmaltz-Hartman
Bouma-Wingels-Hayden
Keith-Rutta
Forsling-Seabrook
Murphy-Franson
Philadelphia
Giroux-Couturier-Voracek
Konecny-Filippula-Simmonds
Weal-Lehtera-Weise
Leier-Laughton-Raffl
Provorov-Hagg
Manning-Gostisbehere
Sanheim-Alt
STATISTICAL COMPARISONS:
(through Wednesday)
Power play:
Chicago 13.6% (27th)
Philadelphia 20.4% (11th)
Penalty kill:
Chicago 84.7% (6th)
Philadelphia 76.9% (24th)
Corsi For % (5-on-5)
Chicago 49.9% (15th)
Philadelphia 49.3% (19th)
Faceoffs:
Chicago 50.3% (18th)
Philadelphia 51.7% (8th)
SUMMARY:
In search of answers for a team that is best described somewhere between sluggish and schizophrenic, Joel Quennevlle and his coaching staff have thrown all the pieces up in the air again to see where they land.
As a result, Michal Kempny returns to the doghouse, Gustav Forsling comes out. Jan Rutta flips back to his natural right side to play alongside Duncan Keith, and Connor Murphy goes to his off, left side, and now plays with Cody Franson—who was with Keith. And that’s just the defense.
At forward, the big change is the “reunion” tour of Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane together on the top line. Well, it was a good bet in 2008 anyway. From there, the second and third lines have been extensively juggled as well.
The Flyers were the team against whom the Hawks ignited a mini-hot streak that lasted about 8 periods—before the wheels fell off in their last outing versus Montreal.
Simply put the Hawks need to start scoring more—at both even strength and on the power play.
Gatekeeper will recap tonight.
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