Blackhawks face Hjalmarsson and win-less Coyotes in first of two game road trip
Blackhawks open two game road trip in the desert against Hjalmarrson and win-less Coyotes
After salvaging only one point in back to back nights earlier in the week, the Chicago Blackhawks head west to the desert to take on their former teammate Niklas Hjalmarrson the Arizona Coyotes in the first game of a two game road trip.
Chicago (4-2-2) battled their way to an overtime loss at home against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night last week, when Anton Forsberg made 42 saves duing the 64 minutes contest. This gave Corey Crawford a much needed night off, after Crawford faced 32 shots in St Louis the night before. Corey heads into tonight’s game third in the NHL in save percentage (.947), and has looked solid in his six appearances this season.
Jordan Oesterle is in the lineup tonight over Michal Kempny, who was a scratch in Thursday night’s game against the Oilers. Kempny carries an impressive +/- of six so far this season, but has been in and out of the lineup over the past few games for undisclosed reasons. This will be Oesterle’s second consecutive game after jumping into the lineup on Thursday night. He saw about 15 minutes of ice time with Connor Murphy, and will likely start with him tonight as well.
Arizona (0-6-1) enters tonight’s game as the only team in the NHL without a victory in this 2017-2018 season. The Yotes have been battling injuries since the start of the year, with their newly acquired goaltender Anti Raanta suffering a muscle strain. Louis Domingue will get the start between the pipes tonight, his forth start of the season (.862 Save %, 4.55 GAA). Rookie Clayton Keller leads the team in goals with five so far this season, and has produced seven total points so far this year (best on the team).
Arizona leads the head-to-head series at home against the Hawks with a 36-34-5 record. Overall, Chicago leads the series 72-60-15. The Coyotes have lost their last seven games played against Chicago, and have not won a game against Chicago at home since 2014.
Looks like Oesterle in, Kempny out tonight.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) October 21, 2017
Blackhawks
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| F1 | Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Alex DeBrincat |
| F2 | Richard Panik - Nick Schmaltz - Patrick Kane |
| F3 | Patrick Sharp - Artem Anisimov - John Hayden |
| F4 | Lance Bouma - Tommy Wingels - Ryan Hartman |
| D1 | Duncan Keith - Jan Rutta |
| D2 | Gustav Forsling - Brent Seabrook |
| D3 | Michal Kempny - Connor Murphy |
| Goaltender | Corey Crawford |
Avalanche
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| F1 | Sven Andrighetto - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen |
| F2 | Gabriel Landeskog - Matt Duchene - Nail Yakupov |
| F3 | Matthew Nieto - Carl Soderberg - Blake Comeau |
| F4 | A.J. Greer - Alexander Kerfoot - Rocco Grimaldi |
| D1 | Anton Lindholm - Erik Johnson |
| D2 | Patrik Nemeth - Tyson Barrie |
| D3 | Mark Barberio - Andrei Mironov |
| Goaltender | Jonathan Bernier |
How to watch Blackhawks at Coyotes
Start time: 8:00 p.m. CT
Location: Gila River Arena, Glendale AZ
TV: NBC Sports Chicago (old CSN), Watch NBC Sports Chicago
