Corey Crawford will return to net as the Blackhawks look to win their final contest ahead of the three-day holiday break. The team hosts the Avalanche at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday night in a matchup of Central Division rivals heading in different directions.

The first-place Hawks are hoping to put Tuesday night’s lackluster performance against the Senators behind them with a victory over an Avalanche team that resides in last place in the division and the league.

With Marian Hossa sidelined after an early exit on Tuesday, the Hawks will look to 24 year-old Tanner Kero to continue the strong season he has been enjoying in Rockford. Kero is leading the IceHogs with 20 points (7G, 13A) in 28 appearances. He will likely fill out the fourth line as coach Joel Quenneville juggles his lines to fill vacancies left by Hossa and Artem Anisimov, who was placed on injured reserve this week.

The Avalanche limp into the United Center tonight on a four-game losing streak and fresh off a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. The loss dropped the Avs to 11-20-1 on the season, facing the No. 1 team in the league Friday on the second half of a back-to-back.

The Avs are 2-2-0 in the second half of back-to-back games this season. Young centers Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon lead the Avs with 22 and 21 points, respectively, and continue to be bright spots in a line-up that is last in the league in team offense. The defensive side of the puck also finds them in last place with a point differential of a whopping minus-40.

In their previous meeting this season in Colorado, the Hawks beat the Avs by a score of 4-0 despite being roundly beaten in SOG, hits, and face-off percentage. In that contest, Hossa scored two of the Hawks four tallies in addition to one goal apiece from Jonathan Toews and Artemi Panarin.

Lineups

Blackhawks

Forwards

Panarin-Toews-Kane
Hartman-Kempny-Motte
Rasmussen-Kruger-Panik
Desjardins-Kero-Tootoo

Defensemen

Keith-Hjalmarsson
Campbell-Seabrook
Forsling-van Riemsdyk

Goalie

Corey Crawford

Avalanche

Forwards

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Bourque
Iginla-Duchene-Rantanen
Grigorenko-Soderberg-Comeau
McLeod-Mitchell-Colborne

Defensemen

Tyutin-Barrie
Beauchemin-Wiercioch
Zadorov-Gelinas

Goalie

Semyon Varlamov

How to watch Blackhawks vs. Avalanche

Time: 7:30 p.m. CT

Where: United Center (Chicago, IL)

TV: CSN

Live Stream: CSNChicago.com

Radio: WGN