Chicago Blackhawks (14-20-6) at Colorado Avalanche (19-13-6)
8:00pm Central, 7:00pm Mountain
Pepsi Center
TV/Radio: NBCSCH/WGN
PROJECTED GOALIES:
Chicago – Collin Delia (2-0-0 W-L, 1.50 GAA, .964 SV%)
Edmonton – Semyon Varlamov (11-8-3 W-L, 2.78 GAA, 0.913 SV%, 1 SO)
Team statistics:
Power Play
Chicago (27th – 14.3%)
Colorado (4th – 27.2%)
Penalty Kill
Chicago (30th – 74.4%)
Colorado (28th – 78.7%)
Shots for/against per game
Chicago (19th, 31.4% – 29rd, 34.3%)
Colorado (16th, 31.8% – 22nd, 32.5%)
Shooting%
Chicago (T-18th – 9.2%)
Colorado (5th, 10.8%)
Faceoff%
Chicago (17th, 50.0%)
Colorado (T-25th, 47.9%)
Avg. height/weight
Chicago
6’1” 197lbs
Colorado
6’0” 201lbs
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:
Chicago Blackhawks
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Dominik Kahun
Artem Anisimov – Dylan Strome – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – David Kampf – Dylan Sikura
Andreas Martinsen – Marcus Kruger – John Hayden
Duncan Keith – Erik Gustafsson
Gustav Forsling – Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom – Connor Murphy
Colorado Avalanche
Matthew Nieto – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog – Alexander Kerfoot – J.T. Compher
Sheldon Dries – Carl Soderberg – Matt Calvert
Sven Andrighetto – Tyson Jost – Gabriel Bourque
Samuel Girard – Erik Johnson
Tyson Barrie – Ian Cole
Patrik Nemeth – Ryan Graves
Analysis:
The Blackhawks ride a high into Denver, after beating the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Thursday evening. Rookie goalie Collin Delia made 46 saves, and will start his second game in a row. He is the first rookie Blackhawks goaltender to make 46 saves in a game since Michael Leighton in 2004. Last Season, Delia and the Blackhawks were shutout 5-0 by the Avs in Colorado.
Patrick Kane tallied his fifth career regular season hat-trick in the game vs Minnesota, as well.
The Blackhawks made a small roster move on Friday, assigning Jacob Nilsson to Rockford and activating Marcus Kruger from IR, following time off for concussion protocol.
Colorado has been struggling as of late, and head coach Jared Bednar fired up the line blender, moving Gabriel Landeskog to the second line and replaced him with Matt Nieto. Starter Semyon Varlamov is scheduled to make the start in net.
For a majority of the season Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen have been absolutely tearing through the league, withRantinen leading the entire NHL with 60 points in 38 games played.