Blackhawks vs. Jets game preview 2015: Chicago looks to bounce back at home

The Winnipeg Jets will visit the United Center for the second time this week and will be looking to even the score after losing to the Hawks last Sunday. It was a tale of two different teams last night as both played the first of back-to-back games with wildly different outcomes. The Hawks return home after taking a beating from the Nashville Predators, while the Jets crept ever closer to the Hawks with a big win over the Blue Jackets.

Corey Crawford is expected to be in net tonight for the Hawks in the second game of a back-to-back and Patrick Kane will try to extend his point streak to 25 games.

The last meeting between these two teams featured the usual animosity from an inter-division foe along with some big hits by Bryan Bickell in his first game back from Rockford and steady play from all four Hawks lines. The Hawks will need some resilience, along a with very short memory, after playing arguably their worst game of the season just 24 hours ago. Trevor Daley is expected to dress tonight, though his minutes may be limited after missing two games due to a neck injury earlier this week.

There will continue to be a premium on points in the Central Division and the Hawks know they can ill afford to drop any points to conference foes on a nightly basis with few points separating the bulk of the teams in the division.

Anticipated Lines:

Teravainen-Toews-Hossa
Panarin-Anisimov-Kane
Bickell-Rasmussen-Shaw
Desjardins-Kruger-Garbutt

Defensive pairings:

Hjalmarsson-Keith
Seabrook-Daley
Rozsival-van Riemsdyk

Opponent Breakdown

Winnipeg Jets | Record: 14-13-2 | 6th in Central Division | Goal Differential: -6

The Jets are currently 6th in the Central Division and come into the United Center after beating the Blue Jackets at home last night. The Jets took two points in a complete team effort featuring offensive and defensive contributions across all lines. They will most certainly hold the edge in confidence tonight after such a strong performance and the desire to avenge their loss to the Hawks earlier this week.

Michael Hutchinson has been in net each of the last two games against Chicago this season and is expected to get the start tonight after Connor Hellebuyck got the win last night. Despite all of the fervor surrounding Kane's 24-game point streak, coach Paul Maurice stated, "We don't [pay attention to Chicago forward Patrick Kane] other than we know that he is maybe the [most] elite player in the NHL ... They've got a couple of other guys that aren't so bad either. You can't focus on one player against Chicago. They have too many pieces."

Anticipated Winnipeg Lines:

Ladd-Little-Wheeler
Perreault-Schiefele-Stafford
Thorburn-Burmistov-Ehlers
Lowery-Copp-Peluso

Defensive Pairings:

Chariot-Byfuglien
Enstrom-Myers
Stuart-Trouba

Injuries

Blackhawks: None

Jets: Ondrej Pavelec

How to watch

When: 7:30 pm CT

Where: United Center, Chicago, Illinois

TV: CSN