Puck Drop: Oct. 31, 7:30 PM CT
Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 5-6-0
Points: 10
Place: 3rd in Central, t-10th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 20%, 3rd in West, 11th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 77.6%, 14h in West, 26th in NHL
Blackhawks Team Statistics
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Dallas Stars
Record: 5-4-2
Points: 12
Place: 3rd in Pacific, t-7th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 19.6%, 4th in West, 12th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 88.2%, 3rd in West, 5th in NHL
Stars Team Statistics
I see this as a pretty important game for the Blackhawks at this point, here on Halloween. They’re on a 3 game losing streak and all three teams that defeated them (Thrashers, Blue Jackets, Bruins) are probably not as talented as Chicago, and two of them were home losses. They have not played well in the offensive or defensive zones during this losing streak, getting away from the things that led them to a nice 5-3 start. Time to find some offensive consistency, and some stability on defense in front of Khabibulin.
I pretty much hate it whenever the Hawks play Dallas, probably because they have dominated us for quite a long time now. The Hawks did beat the Stars on October 13th, a game in which they tied the game up with 3 seconds to go in the 3rd period and then won in OT.
But, remember last year, when the Hawks dropped a 5-4 heartbreaker to the Stars in October and lost Martin Havlat to an injury that pretty much ended our chances of being a winning team? That wasn’t fun. More incentive to get this win tonight.
This is the first game thread here on Second City Hockey, so if you’re stumbling upon us for the first time, be sure to leave some comments as you watch the game! I’ll be around for this one as well, let’s hope it’s a ‘Hawks victory!
Tonight’s Hawks lineup, per their official site:
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: Johansson/Wisniewski
Goalie
Khabibulin