Tonight is the first of three meetings between the Blackhawks and the Sharks, all occurring within the next 17 days. Tonight’s match up features the top two teams in the Western Conference. The Blackhawks are coming off of a crazy shootout win in Calgary Saturday night. They have had two days off so they should seem much fresher than they looked against the Flames. The days off have appeared to work wonders for Dave Bolland who, barring any major setback, will return to the Hawks lineup tonight. Speaking of returns to the ice, Corey Crawford will be back between the pipes for the Blackhawks. Crawford will be tested against the high powered San Jose offense, who is averaging 3.22 goals a game this season. The key match up tonight will be the Chicago penalty kill versus the Sharks’ power play unit. San Jose has been on a league high 50 power plays this year and have scored on 13 of them for a 26% conversion rate which is 5th in the NHL. The Sharks were 0 for 6 on the power play last night in Anaheim. This will be a test for the Hawks top rated PK unit that has only surrendered 2 goals on 36 attempts.
The Sharks suffered their first regulation loss to the Anaheim Ducks last night, leaving the Hawks as the only team in the NHL yet to lose in within 60 minutes. The Sharks offense has been stellar to start the year. They already have four players that have reached double digits in points. Patrick Marleau has cooled down after his white hot start to the year. He only has one assist in his last four games after scoring 13 points (9 G, 4 A) in the first five games of the year. Thomas Greiss started last night so the Blackhawks will see their old friend Antti Niemi in net tonight. Niemi is 5-2-1 with a 2.64 GAA and .920 save % in eight career starts against his former team.
Chicago Blackhawks probable lineup:
Fowards
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp – Dave Bolland – Patrick Kane
Bryan Bickell – Andrew Shaw – Viktor Stalberg
Brandon Bollig – Marcus Kruger – Michael Frolik
Defensive Pairings
Johnny Oduya – Niklas Hjalmarsson
Sheldon Brookbank – Nick Leddy
Goaltender
Corey Crawford 5-0-2, 1.66 GAA, .934 save %, 0 SO
Injuries
Dave Bolland (ankle) probable, Daniel Carcillo (knee) OUT, Michal Rozsival (knee) questionable
Leading Scorers:
P. Kane 13 pts (4 G, 9 A)
M. Hossa 10 pts (6 G, 4 A)
P. Sharp 8 pts (2 G, 6 A)
J. Toews 7 pts (4 G, 3 A)
N. Leddy 5 pts (1 G, 4 A)
Probable San Jose Sharks lineup:
Forwards
Patrick Marleau – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Ryane Clowe – Logan Couture – James Sheppard
Tommy Wingels – Michal Handzus – Martin Havlat
Andrew Desjardins – Scott Gomez – Adam Burish
Defensive Pairings
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Brad Stuart
Goaltender
Antti Niemi 6-0-1, 1.80 GAA, .936 save %, 0 SO
Injuries
Brent Burns (hernia surgery) OUT
Leading Scorers:
P. Marleau 14 pts (9 G, 5 A)
J. Thornton 14 pts (3 G, 11 A)
J. Pavelski 12 pts (4 G, 8 A)
L. Couture 11 pts (6 G, 5 A)
D. Boyle 6 pts (2 G, 4 A)