Los Angeles Kings (23–33–8) vs Chicago Blackhawks (27–28–9)
3:00pm CST
STAPLES Center
TV/Radio: NBCSCH/WGN
PROJECTED STARTERS
Chicago – Cam Ward (14–10–4, SV%: .893, GAA: 3.71)
Los Angeles – Jonathan Quick (11–17–6, SV%: .891, GAA: 3.31)
TEAM STATISTICS
Power Play
Chicago (22.3%, 7th)
Los Angeles (14.8%, 29th)
Penalty Kill
Chicago (73.3%, 31st)
Los Angeles (74.7%, 30th)
Shorts for/against
Chicago (32.1, 13th; 35.1, 30th)
Los Angeles (28.6, 29th; 31.3, 14th)
Shooting %
Chicago (10.4%, 8th)
Los Angeles (8.2%, 30th)
Faceoff %
Chicago (49.7%, 19th)
Los Angeles (50.2%, T14th)
Avg. height/weight
Chicago 6’1”, 195lbs
Los Angeles 6’2” 206lbs
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS
Chicago Blackhawks
Drake Caggiula–Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat–Dylan Strome–Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad–Artem Anisimov–Dylan Sikura
Chris Kunitz–Marcus Kruger–John Hayden
Slater Koekkoek–Erik Gustafsson
Los Angeles Kings
Alex Iafallo–Anze Kopitar–Dustin Brown
Ilya Kovalchuk–Jeff Carter–Tyler Toffoli
Bredan Leipsic–Adrian Kempe–Jonny Brodzinski
Kyle Clifford–Trevor Lewis–Austin Wagner
Analysis
Following their thrilling victory on Wednesday night, the Blackhawks travel slightly north to take on the Los Angeles Kings. Wednesday night’s Ducks/Blackhawks battle saw the Blackhawks playing a more offensively-challenged Anaheim team. In today’s action, the Blackhawks will square off against a Los Angeles Kings’ team that, in many categories, is only a little better than the Ducks. Today presents a great opportunity for the Blackhawks, versus an opponent that is far less potent offensively than they are.
A few big positives from Wednesday included Patrick Kane further extending his incredible point streak, as well as the return of Corey Crawford. Overall, Crawford played well, but he is still re-gaining his feet after missing significant time.
The Kings, for the most part, stood pat at the trade deadline earlier in the week. Instead of trying to sell assets such as Jonathan Quick and Jeff Carter, the Kings held on to their prized possessions and continued to ride it out.
LA comes into today’s game losers of 10 straight games, setting themselves up for a nice pick in June’s draft, potentially landing either Kappo Kakko or Jack Hughes. The Kings are an aging team with potentially greater cap issues than those facing the Blackhawks.
Any slip-up could prove fatal to the Hawks’ fading playoff chances (5 points out, with 3 teams in the way). So, this is essentially a must-win game for Chicago.