The Chicago Blackhawks will play against the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time this season on Sunday night at the United Center.
The Penguins entered this season with some hopes they may be able to make the playoffs after missing the last two seasons by margins of three and one points, respectively. Unfortunately, they’ve come nowhere close, dropping below .500 for the first tim since 2005–06, Sidney Crosby’s inaugural season. Only the Philadelphia Flyers are worse in the Metropolitan Division, and Pittsburgh is likely to finish this season with either the 25th or 26th overall in the NHL standings. The Penguins still have fairly average 5-on-5 underlying numbers — 50.71 percent share of shot attempts (12th) and 50.29 percent share of expected goals (16th) — but their shooting percentage (8.57, 23rd) and goal tending (.881 save percentage, 29th) has been atrocious.
The Penguins will be playing in their second game in as many nights, having beaten the Dallas Stars 5-3 on the road on Saturday. Crosby scored three of the Penguins goals, picked up an assist, and extended his current points streak to 12 games (10 G, 8 A), the longest active streak in the NHL. The focus may be on Alex Ovechkin chasing goal scoring history this season, but Crosby has been putting on quite a show himself recently.
For the past two months, the best player in the world has been Sidney Crosby. That’s 20 points in 12 games for the ageless one. His thoughts on Ovi, on Saturday’s hat trick, Bryan Rust’s milestone and more. Check it out here: https://t.co/LcTOIJRHR1
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) April 5, 2025
As shown in the Dallas game, Crosby is still playing at a pretty elite level: his 86 points (30 G, 56 A) not only lead the Penguins by 20 points, it’s good for 10th among forwards in the league. The team then has three other forwards at a rate of 0.7 points-per-game or better in Bryan Rust (0.88), Rickard Rakell (0.87), Evgeni Malkin (0.75) and then Michael Bunting (0.5) is solid, but the production drops off a cliff at that point with the rest of the forward group. On the blue line, Erik Karlsson (0.68) still contributes like a top forward offensively, and Matt Grzelcyk (0.47) and Kris Letang (0.41) are respectable as well. The lack of depth and players underperforming is a big reason why the Penguins are lottery eligible this season versus in the hunt for a final wild card spot like in recent years.
The only time the Penguins are typically much of an offensive threat is on the power play: they are the ninth most successful with the man-advantage (24.8 percent).
No news on a lineup for this game given the slightly earlier start but here’s what Pittsburgh rolled out against Dallas on Saturday:
The Blackhawks, in comparison, are riding a five-game losing streak (0-4-1). They most recently fell 5-3 to the Washington Capitals on Friday. There was a lot to like about the game despite the ending: Alex Ovechkin did not break Wayne Gretzky’s goal record (though he tie it with two goals), the Blackhawks kept up with one of the best teams in the league for two periods, and the Blackhawks’ offense was youth-driven. Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist while Landon Slaggert and Oliver Moore each had two assists. It was the best game we’d seen from Moore since he joined the Blackhawks after his college season ended. Additionally, Sam Rinzel looked extremely impressive again for the third straight game, playing a team-leading 22:58. Not bad.
In fact, Rinzel has been playing so well, it looks like the Blackhawks are going to try him on the top power-play unit against the Penguins:
#Blackhawks power-play units:
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 5, 2025
PP1: Bedard, Teravainen, Donato (bumper), Bertuzzi (net front), Rinzel
PP2: Nazar, Korchinski, Kurashev (bumper), Moore (net front), Levshunov
Artyom Levshunov was moved to be on the second unit with Kevin Korchinski, not unexpected considering Levshunov has been ineffective. He’s obviously got the skills to rack up points, but he pass and shot selection is still iffy at this stage.
While the power-play units may be changing, it doesn’t look like the Blackhawks’ lines will be, outside of Lukas Reichel coming back in after missing last game for disciplinary reasons (he missed a team meeting). He’s slotting on the fourth line in place of Pat Maroon, so Philipp Kurashev is remaining with Slaggert and Moore on the third line.
Blackhawks lines in practice:
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 5, 2025
Donato-Bedard-Mikheyev
Teravainen-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Slaggert-Moore-Kurashev
Reichel-Veleno-Foligno
Vlasic-Rinzel
Korchinski-Murphy
Kaiser-Levshunov
Here was the explanation behind Reichel missing the meeting:
Lukas Reichel, who was a healthy scratch on Friday because he was late to a team meeting, said his phone died and he didn’t have a charger: “It sucked but it’s not going to happen again. I’ve never been late to a meeting one time, I just wasn’t smart enough.” #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 5, 2025
No word yet on who the Blackhawks goalie will be, although it seems possible that Arvid Soderblom could get the look after Spencer Knight played on Friday.
Lastly in injury news, Colton Dach has been skating again, albeit without the puck, but coach Anders Sorensen said Saturday that he wasn’t close to returning to the lineup. With only a few weeks left, there may be a chance he doesn’t play a game again this season.
Anders Sörensen said Colton Dach wasn't close yet to returning to the lineup from his injury.
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) April 5, 2025
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Penguins
44.03% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 50.71% (12th)
42.87% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 50.29% (16th)
2.70 (26th) — Goals per game — 2.94 (19th)
3.61 (31st) — Goals against per game — 3.58 (30th)
45.0% (31st) — Faceoffs — 52.8 (5th)
24.4% (10th) — Power play — 24.8% (9th)
80.4% (12th) — Penalty kill — 77.6% (21st)
(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 5 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN
Webstream: CHSN+, ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720