Chicago Blackhawks (6–7–4) at Vegas Golden Knights (5–7–4)
9 p.m. CST
T-Mobile Arena
TV/Radio: NBCSN/WGN
Projected starting goaltenders
Chicago — Corey Crawford (2–4–2, .905 save percentage, 3.27 goals against average)
Vegas — Marc-Andre Fleury (9–4–1, .920 save percentage, 2.52 goals against average)
Team statistics
Power play
Chicago (14.5%, 23rd)
Vegas (21.2%, 12th)
Penalty kill
Chicago (81.1%, 17th)
Vegas (87.7%, Third)
Shots for/against
Chicago (30.8, 20th; 36.8, 30th)
Vegas (33.4, 10th; 32.3, 11th)
Shooting percentage
Chicago (8.60%)
Vegas (8.50%)
Face off percentage
Chicago (48.6%, 24th)
Vegas (48.9%, 23rd)
Average height and weight
Chicago — 6-foot-1, 196 pounds
Vegas — 6-foot-2, 202 pounds
Projected lines and pairings
Chicago Blackhawks
Brandon Saad — Jonathan Toews — Alexander Nylander
Alex DeBrincat — Dylan Strome — Patrick Kane
Dominik Kubalik — David Kampf — Andrew Shaw
Ryan Carpenter — Kirby Dach — Zack Smith
Duncan Keith — Erik Gustafsson
Calvin de Haan — Brent Seabrook
Olli Maatta — Adam Boqvist
Vegas Golden Knights
Jonathan Marchessault — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty — Paul Stastny — Mark Stone
Cody Glass — Cody Eakin — Alex Tuch
William Carrier — Nicolas Roy — Ryan Reaves
Brayden McNabb — Nate Schmidt
Shea Theodore — Nicolas Hague
Jon Merrill — Nick Holden
Analysis
In the Blackhawks’ victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team went back to the free-wheeling style from last season. The move to change offensive styles is directly related to the team’s lack of offensive production this season. Patrick Kane has gone from under producing on offense to one of the hottest players in the NHL in the last 10 days. Kane has 10 points in his last five games including three against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
While the style change yielded five goals from the offense, it also yielded a team-high 57 shots against goaltender Robin Lehner. Luckily for the Blackhawks, one of the strengths of this team has been the play of their goaltenders, particularly Lehner, who matched a career-high 53 saves against the Maple Leafs. The last time he faced over 50 shots was in 2013 against the New York Islanders. In addition to matching his career-high in saves, Lehner also became the first goaltender since Nikolai Khabibulin to record 50-plus saves in a game. Khabibulin accomplished his feat of 56 saves in 2007 against the Detroit Red Wings. Head coach Jeremy Colliton will go with Corey Crawford, though, against the struggling Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights are returning home after suffering an overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. With the loss to Detroit, the Golden Knights finished off their four-game road trip with three straight losses. The issue plaguing the Golden Knights is third-period penalties, which have helped opponents outscore Vegas 16–15 in the third period. While yielding third-period goals is an issue, the Golden Knights also have trouble scoring third-period goals. One goal has been scored in the third period by the Golden Knights in their last four games.
If the Golden Knights want to right the ship against the Blackhawks, they need to get more productions from Mark Stone and Paul Stastny. Leading scorer Stone is pointless in his last four games, while Stastny is pointless in his last six games.
Can the free-wheeling offense of the Blackhawks yield another victory or will the Golden Knights solve their period woes at home?