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Chicago Blackhawks (6-5-2) at Minnesota Wild (5-4-2)
7PM Central
RADIO: WGN 720
TV: WGN, Fox Sports North
PROJECTED GOALIES:
Chicago:
Corey Crawford (6-4-0, 1.91 GAA, .941 save%)
Minnesota:
Devan Dubnyk (4-3-1, 3.03 GAA, .905 save%)
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:
Chicago
DeBrincat-Toews-Panik
Saad-Schmaltz-Kane
Sharp-Anisimov-Hayden
Bouma-Wingels-Hartman
Keith-Franson
Rutta-Seabrook
Kempny-Murphy
Minnesota
Zucker-Koivu-Granlund
Niederreiter-Staal-Kunin
Foligno-Ek-Stewart
Winnik-Cullen-Ennis
Suter-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba
Olofsson-Reilly
STATISTICAL COMPARISONS:
Power play:
Chicago 13.6% (28th)
Minnesota 18.4% (15th)
Penalty kill:
Chicago 83.3% (9th)
Minnesota 81% (16th)
Corsi For % (5-on-5)
Chicago 48.7% (19th)
Minnesota 46.3% (276th)
Faceoffs:
Chicago 50.3% (20thth)
Minnesota 50.7% (16th)
SUMMARY:
Both the Hawks and Wild have struggled to find their customary grooves this season.
In their last outing versus Philadelphia, the Hawks had a middling first period, before taking over the game in the second and much of the third periods. Suddenly, Chicago was looking again like the team that thoroughly dominated Eastern Conference powerhouses in the first two games of the season—although the Flyers don’t qualify as such.
The lineup remains essentially the same for Chicago tonight, as they try to maintain the brief, positive trend started versus Philadelphia.