Minnesota Wild (26–22–3) vs Chicago Blackhawks (19–24–9)
7:00pm CST
Xcel Energy Center
TV/Radio: NBC/WGN
PROJECTED STARTERS
Chicago – Collin Delia (4–2–3, SV%: .923, GAA: 3.00)
Minnesota – Alex Stalock (6–5–0, SV%: .894, GAA: 2.91)
TEAM STATISTICS
Power Play
Chicago (19.9%, 16th)
Minnesota (21.3%, 11th)
Penalty Kill
Chicago (74.0%, 31st)
Minnesota (84.3%, 2nd)
Shorts for/against
Chicago (31.3, 16th; 35.2, 30th)
Minnesota (31.1, 20th; 29.3, 6th)
Shooting %
Chicago (9.9%, 12th)
Minnesota (9.0%, 23rd)
Faceoff %
Chicago (49.8%, 17th)
Minnesota (50.3%, T13th)
Avg. height/weight
Chicago 6’1”, 197lbs
Minnesota 6’1” 202lbs
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS
Chicago Blackhawks
Drake Caggiula–Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat–Dylan Strome–Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad–David Kampf–Marcus Kruger
Chris Kunitz–Artem Anisimov–John Hayden
Gustav Forsling–Erik Gustafsson
Minnesota Wild
Jordan Greenway–Eric Staal–Charlie Coyle
Jason Zucker–Mikko Koivu–Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise–Victor Rask–Pontus Aberg
Marcus Foligno–Eric Fehr–Matt Hendricks
Analysis
Following their win in Buffalo on Friday night, the Blackhawks venture to Minnesota to take on the Wild. The shining star of Friday’s game was hometown boy Patrick Kane. He registered two goals and two assists, bypassing the 900 point mark and cementing himself as the 5th all-time leading scorer in Blackhawks history, for now.
Gustav Forsling returned to the lineup after his extended absence, registering an assist on the opening goal by Drake Caggiula. It is likely that he will be playing more as a possible audition in case he is moved at the deadline.
The Blackhawks received outstanding goaltending from Cam Ward on Friday night. Collin Delia will likely start in net on Saturday night against the Wild. If Delia can provide similar goaltending to what Cam Ward provided on Friday, there’s a good chance the Blackhawks could steal both games of the back-to-back.
The Wild are coming into this game on the second half of their own back-to-back. The Wild lost on Friday night to the Dallas Stars, in Dallas, 3-1. New defenseman Brad
Hunt scored the lone goal for the Wild but the Stars had the last laugh and stole two meaningful points.
The Wild currently sit in the first wild card position after the loss to Dallas, who now leapfrogged the Wild for third in the Central division. The Wild will likely come out hungry for two points against the Blackhawks who sit only five points out of a playoff position, despite their rough season.