Puck Drop: Nov. 3, 7:30 PM CT
Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 6-6-0
Points: 12
Place: t-4th in Central, t-9th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 21%, 3rd in West, 10th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 78.2%, 13th in West, 23rd in NHL
Blackhawks Team Statistics
@
St. Louis Blues
Record: 7-4-0
Points: 14
Place: 3rd in Central, 7th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 13%, t-11th in West, t-25th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 90%, 2nd in West, 2nd in NHL
Blues Team Statistics
It’s nice to see that this rivalry may be getting interesting again, as both teams have done a good job of rebuilding after some tough years and picked up some good talent. The Blues did a good job of getting Paul Kariya via free agency, who currently leads them in scoring. Kariya is complemented by such forwards as Keith Tkachuk and Brad Boyes, who have also had a good start to the year. In between the pipes, Manny Legace has been strong for them and I would guess he’ll be in the net tonight as well.
The Hawks last played the Blues on October 17th at the United Center, a game they dropped 3-1 to St. Louis.
This will be the first of back-to-back games for the Hawks this weekend, as after tonight, they will be taking on Nashville at the UC tomorrow night. It would be nice to see us grab a big win tonight and then have some momentum coming home.
The Hawks’ official site is also now reporting that defenseman Dustin Byfuglien has been recalled from Rockford, and will be playing tonight.
The lineup for the Blackhawks tonight shakes out like this:
Offense
1st line: LW Burish – C Lang – RW Williams
2nd line: LW Ruutu – C Toews – RW Kane
3rd line: LW Perreault – C Bolland – RW Sharp
4th line: LW Bourque – C Adams – RW Lapointe
Defense
1st pairing: Vandermeer/Seabrook
2nd pairing: Keith/Sopel
3rd pairing: Byfuglien/Wisniewski
Goalie
Khabibulin
Healthy Scratches: Johansson, Samsonov, Richmond
Injured Reserve: Havlat, Zyuzin, Koci
As always, this is an open thread, so leaving comments on the game while you’re watching is strongly encouraged!