No rest for the weary as the Blackhawks will take to the United Center ice tonight for their first look at the Detroit Red Wings. The Blackhawks have a chance to head into their season long six game road trip with a perfect 6-0 record. Last night, the Blue Jackets gave the Hawks their biggest physical challenge of the year and they should expect more of the same from the Wings tonight. The Hawks enjoyed great success against Detroit last season by getting at least one point in every game they played last season. The went 4-0-2 versus the Wings taking 10 out of a possible 12 points. There has not been an official announcement on who is starting in net for the Hawks tonight, but if I had to guess it would be Corey Crawford again, since the Blackhawks have two days off after tonight.
Probable Blackhawks Lineup:
Forwards
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Marian Hossa
Goaltender
Corey Crawford
Leading Scorers:
Patrick Kane 9 pts (2 G, 7 A)
Marian Hossa 7 pts (5 G, 2 A)
Patrick Sharp 6 pts (2 G, 4 A)
Jonathan Toews 5 pts (3 G, 2 A)
Dave Bolland 4 pts (3 G, 1 A)
The Red Wings are missing quite a few familiar faces from years past. Niklas Lidstrom and Thomas Holmstrom both hung up their skates and Jiri Hudler bolted for a big payday from the Calgary Flames. The Wings have also been hit with a rash of injuries already this season. Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson is a game time decision with a hip injury. Ian White, Carlo Colaiavoco, Jonas Gustavson and Jan Mursak will all be out tonight. The Wings haven’t looked like the Detroit teams we have been used to but they did play much better in their 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Friday. You can never count out any team that has Pavel Datsyuk in their lineup. This could be the first year in many years that the Hawks’ fan chant of “Detroit Sucks” might actually be true.
Probable Red Wings Lineup:
Forwards
Johan Franzen – Henrik Zetterberg – Damien Brunner
Valtteri Filppula – Pavel Datsyuk – Todd Bertuzzi
Daniel Cleary – Darren Helm – Justin Abdelkader
Drew Miller – Cory Emmerton – Jordin Tootoo
Defensive Pairings
Niklas Kronwall – Brian Lashoff
Goaltender
Leading Scorers:
Pavel Datsyuk 6 pts (2 G, 4 A)
Henrik Zetterberg 4 pts (1 G, 3 A)
Niklas Kronwall 4 pts (0 G, 4 A)
Valtteri Filppula 3 pts (0 G, 3 A)
Damien Brunner 2 pts (2 G, 0 A)
STATS 4 GP 5 2 W 5 2 L 0 0 OT 0 4 P 10 0.500 P% 1.000 2.25 G/G 4.00 3.50 GA/G 2.40 10.0 PP% 25.0 68.2 PK% 94.1 30.8 S/G 29.0 31.8 SA/G 26.6 52.6 FO% 51.5
courtesy of NHL.com
