The Blackhawks take a shaky record and psyche—along with some wacky, freshly-blended lines—to Washington tonight where they face the Capitals.
Chicago Blackhawks (12-10-5) at Washington Capitals (16-11-1)
8:00 PM Eastern/7 Central
RADIO: WGN 720
TV: NBC Sports
PROJECTED GOALIES:
Chicago:
Anton Forsberg (1-3-3, 3.01 GAA, .914 save%)
Washington:
Braden Holtby (14-6-0, 2.63 GAA, .919 save%)
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:
CHICAGO
Hartman-Toews-Hayden
Saad-Anisimov-Kane
Bouma-Schmaltz-DeBrincat
Sharp-Wingels-panik
Keith-Franson
Murphy-Seabrook
Forsling-Rutta
WASHINGTON
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Chiasson
Connolly-Eller-Boyd
Stephenson-Beagle-DSP
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Carlson
Djoos-Bowey
STATISTICAL COMPARISONS:
Power play:
Chicago 16.1% (29th)
Washington 21.7% (15th)
Penalty kill:
Chicago 84.4%% (4th)
Washington 78.0% (22nd)
Corsi For % (5-on-5):
Chicago 51.4% (10th)
Washington 48.0% (23rd)
Faceoffs:
Chicago 48.5% (25th)
Washington 52.2% (6th)
SUMMARY:
Just in time for yet another game against a good team that’s given the Hawks trouble in recent years, and this a road game, Joel Quenneville has to go and liquefy his lines again.
There’s been some pretty sound analysis of these moves elsewhere the last couple of days, so I won’t go into too much detail (at the-rink, we don’t “borrow” from other writers or bloggers) on my feelings on these ines. But I will say, I think the success or failure of this new configuration rests with the Toews line.
We can argue til the cows come home whether Brandon Saad meshes with Patrick Kane, but the fact is, the team’s three best forwards are on the Kane-Anisimov-Saad line, and all three players are slotted in their natural positions—they should be fine.
I like Nick Schmaltz as a center over left wing—even if most nights he is terrible on faceoffs. He and Alex DeBrincat may have chemistry as two righty sticks—Schmaltz the consummate pass first player, ADB the shooter-finisher. Lance Bouma? Meh, OK, he’ll create space and maybe keep the troublemakers off the backs of the other two.
As a team, the Hawks need to simply play better, and with a few days rest under their belts, they should.
If Anton Forsberg plays as well tonight as he has so far in place of an injured Corey Crawford, the Hawks will have at least a puncher’s chance.
We’ll recap in the AM.
Follow: @jaeckel