Corey Crawford will start and, Duncan Keith and Daniel Carcillo will play when the Chicago Blackhawks visit the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night at the MTS Centre.
Keith did not practice Thursday, but coach Joel Quenneville said it was a maintenance day. Carcillo will be back in the lineup. It will be Carcillo’s first game back since serving a six-game suspension for his crosscheck on Jets forward Mathieu Perreault.
Kris Versteeg practiced with the Blackhawks, it was his first skate with the team since breaking his hand on New Year’s Day. Versteeg centered the second line of Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane while Brad Richards took the morning off. Richards will play and Versteeg is expected to play Wednesday or Friday during the Blackhawks’ eight-game homestand.
Chicago has lost to Winnipeg the first three times in the five-game season series. The Blackhawks have lost their last four meetings dating back to last season. Winnipeg outscored the Blackhawks 10-3 in the three game this season, holding Kane without a point and Toews to just one assist. However, Chicago has claimed five straight not the road in this series.
In their last two games, the Blackhawks were shutout in consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 25-30, 2006. Chicago enters tonight with a goalless drought of 126 minutes, 35 seconds. Patrick Kane scored the team’s last goal late in the third period of Chicago’s 4-1 win over Anaheim one week ago.
Jonathan Toews plays some of his best hockey against his hometown team. Toews has scored five goals and eight assists in 12 career match ups against Winnipeg. He had a goal with three assists in a 6-3 victory Nov. 21, 2013, in the Blackhawks’ most recent trip to Winnipeg.
Crawford is 3-4-0 with a 2.25 goals-against average in his career against Winnipeg.
Opponent Breakdown: Winnipeg Jets
Winnipeg is on a five-game skid and have been dealing with tension in the locker room with forward Evander Kane, who was not in the lineup for Tuesday’s game in Vancouver.
Reports surfaced that Kane violated team dress code rules and showed up for a team meeting wearing sweats instead of a suit. Later in the day, a SportsNet report stated Kane’s sweat suit was thrown into the shower by former Blackhawk defenseman Dustin Byfuglien.
Kane did not participate in practice Thursday and will not play tonight after begin placed on injured reserve later in the day. Kane has 10 goals and 12 assists in 37 games this season.
Evander Kane will undergo left shoulder surgery shortly and normal recovery time is 4-6 months #NHLJets
— Sara Orlesky (@saraorlesky) February 6, 2015
If you want to read more about the Kane saga, visit our SB Nation site Arctic Ice Hockey.
Without Kane in the lineup, the Jets fell 3-2 in overtime their last time out against Vancouver. Jets’ captain Andrew Ladd is on a three-game point streak. He has 18 goals and a team-high 27 assists.
Michael Hutchinson is expected to start, he is 14-7-2 with a 2.25 GAA this season. Hutchinson is 3-0 with a 1.00 GAA against the Blackhawks. The Jets are 12-10-3 at home this season.
Injury Report
Chicago: Kris Versteeg (hand) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (knee)
Winnipeg: Evander Kane (shoulder), Jay Harrison (upper-body), Matt Halischuk (undisclosed) and Grant Clitsome (back)
Game Information
When: 7 p.m. CT
Where: MTS Centre
TV: CSN
Radio: WGN-720
(Nice timing by Fallon on that one, eh?)
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