The Blackhawks lost more than a little pocket change in their last trip to Las Vegas, getting humiliated by the expansion Golden Knights. Can they get revenge tonight?
Vegas Golden Knights (27-9-2) at Chicago Blackhawks (19-14-6)
7:30PM Central/6:30 Mountain
RADIO: WGN 720
PROJECTED GOALIES:
Vegas:
Malcolm Subban (10-2-0, 2.25 GAA, .922 save%)
Chicago:
Jeff Glass (2-0-1, 2.98 GAA, .917 SV%)
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:
Vegas
Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith
Perron-Haula-Neal
Leipsic-Eakin-Tuch
Nosek-Lindberg-Carrier
McNabb-Schmidt
Theodore-Engelland
Merrill-Miller
Chicago
Saad-Toews-Hinostroza
Hartman-Schmaltz-Kane
Sharp-Kampf-DeBrincat
Bouma-Wingels-Hayden
Keith-Oesterle
Kempny-Franson
Murphy-Seabrook
STATISTICAL COMPARISONS:
Power play:
Vegas 18.9% (19th)
Chicago 14.9% (29th)
Penalty kill:
Vegas 80.3% (21st)
Chicago 81% (18th)
Corsi For % (5-on-5):
Vegas 50.1% (14th)
Chicago 53.1% (2nd)
Faceoffs:
Vegas 49.9% (17th)
Chicago 48.7% (23rd)
SUMMARY:
The Hawks have taken 5 points out of a possible 6 in their last 3 games. Which is great news for a team scuffling to get into playoff position. But Chicago’s recent resurgence gets put to a stern test Friday night against the Vegas Golden Knights, a team that pushed the Hawks around in their own building earlier in the season, on the way to a 4-2 win.
Vegas doesn’t have what you would call a star-studded lineup, but they’re extremely opportunistic, aggressive and confident. The Hawks will need to bring their A game from the opening horn.
We’ll have the official The-Rink.com game thread posted on our main page before the game—join the conversation with JJ, Gatekeeper and the rest of the RinkRats.
Our first ever game thread Wednesday night featured over 100 comments (from Hawk fans all over North America) on game action in real time. Expect even more going forward.
Follow: @jaeckel