St. Louis Blues (1-1-1) at Chicago Blackhawks (2-0-2)
7:30pm Central
United Center
TV/Radio: NBCSCH, FS-MW/WGN
Goalies:
Chicago
Cam Ward (.867 save%, 4.41 GAA)
St. Louis
Jake Allen (.854 save%, 4.28 GAA)
Team statistics:
Power play
Chicago (6.7%)
St. Louis (25.0%)
Penalty kill
Chicago (69.2%)
St. Louis (90.0%)
Shots for/against per game
Chicago (33.5, 33.8)
St. Louis (34.7, 29.7)
Shooting%
Chicago (13.4%)
St. Louis (9.6%)
Faceoff%
Chicago (48.6%)
St. Louis (53.5%)
Avg. height/weight:
Chicago:
6’1”, 195
St. Louis
6’1” 204
Lineups:
Chicago
Debrincat – Toews – Kahun
Fortin – Schmaltz – Kane
Kunitz – Anisimov – Hayden
Kampf – Kruger – Saad
Keith – Jokiharju
Gustafsson – Seabrook
Manning – Davidson
St. Louis:
Maroon – O’Reilly – Tarasenko
Schwartz – Schenn – Perron
Steen – Bozak – Kyrou
Barbashev – Thomas – Blais
Edmundson – Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester – Parayko
Jerabek – Bortuzzo
Analysis:
Coming off a late game collapse in Minnesota, the Chicago Blackhawks look to bounce back against the St. Louis Blues at the United Center tonight. Last week, the Blackhawks beat the Blues 4-3 on the road.
The top line of Jonathan Toews, Alex DeBrincat and Dominik Kahun appear to be the only line clicking on all cylinders. All three, along with Patrick Kane, need to stay hot as the bottom lines try to bring scoring balance to the lineup.
Duncan Keith is celebrating his 1000th game in a Blackhawks’ uniform. Keith, paired with rookie Henri Jokiharju, has pushed possession well from the backend. However, too many prime scoring chances against continue to haunt the defensive unit.
For the fifth straight game, Cam Ward will start between the pipes, which begs the question, how much faith does the coaching staff have in Anton Forsberg? Although another theory is that the team is hesitant either to play Forsberg through a hand injury, or put him on waivers and potentially lose him to another club. Jake Allen looks to avenge his loss from last week for the Blues.
Comment below in our live game thread tonight!
And look for the internet’s most robust recap of the game later tonight or early tomorrow on the-rink.com.