The Chicago Blackhawks play their last game at the United Center for almost two weeks, hosting the Nashville Predators Friday night.
After making arguably one of the splashiest moves this summer by signing Steven Stamkos (and generally being lauded for all their offseason moves), the Predators have had an abysmal start to the season, going 1-5-0 and being outscored 23-14 in their first six games.
They only just got into the win column in their most recent game, a 4-0 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. Forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Luke Evangelista each had a goal and an assist, defenseman Roman Josi had two assists, and goalie Juuse Saros made 33 saves in the win. Nashville will be looking to use the momentum from the Boston game to get a little win streak going while in Chicago.
As mentioned above, offense has obviously been an issue for Nashville: their 2.33 goals per game is currently fifth worst in the NHL. The main reason behind this is the lack of quality for their shots at 5-on-5: the Predators’ shot attempts (65.58 per 60) and shots on goal (32.13) rates are both top-six currently, but their expected goals (2.42) is 21st in the league. That’s not as low as the Blackhawks’ own lack of quality chances, but it’s certainly not been good for Nashville.
O’Reilly and Filip Forsberg lead the team with two goals and four assists each in four games, Jonathan Marchessault and Luke Evangelista both have one goal and three assists, and Novak has three goals so far. The rest of the forward group, including Stamkos, has only one or fewer points so far. With his two assists last game, Josi brought his season total to five, but scoring for the rest of the defense is lagging.
Defensively, the Predators are a bit of a mixed bag: they’re great at limiting shot attempts (52.51 per 60 against, third least), but their shots on goal (28.8, 17th) and expected goals suppression (2.45, 14th) are middling at 5-on-5. Still, the biggest problem has been in net, as their goaltending has allowed 3.55 goals against (fourth worst) and they have just a .877 save-percentage at 5-on-5 (third worst). However, Saros is coming off a shutout, and is only two seasons removed from a .919 save-percentage season. He’s been a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in the past, so he could turn it up a notch at any time. Scott Wedgewood has only played one game, allowing four goals on 20 shots. Usually it’d be a foregone conclusion Saros would start, but as of yesterday’s practice, coach Andrew Brunette didn’t know his starter; like the Blackhawks, the Predators play back-to-back games this weekend so they’ll plan their goalies accordingly.
After the win against Boston, Nashville’s lines will stay the same:
One interesting note, the Predators recalled 21-year-old prospect Zachary L’Heureux from the Milwaukee Admirals on Monday, and he suited up for his first NHL game against Boston. L’Heureux had quite the coming out party during the AHL playoffs last season, where he had 10 goals and five assists in 15 games.
While the Predators are coming off their best game of the season, the Blackhawks just had their worst, falling 6-3 in a sloppy mess to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. It was another example of the Blackhawks not starting a game on time, which is an issue that’s plagued them for the past two seasons and they need serious work on, especially considering that they lack the offensive depth to overcome early deficits. With the back-to-back losses recently, their record is now 2-4-1, the second-worst record in the Central Division (behind only the Predators).
Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen still lead the forwards with seven points in seven games each, but they’ve both been held without a point in their last two games. The good news is that despite not scoring, Bedard is having a “dominating” season so far statistically. The goals and points will definitely come for the young star, and Teravainen will help get him to the next level.
The rest of the forward group though is lacking offensive firepower and consistency. If the group can produce more, they’re going to need to be better defensively, which means they need to limit the type of sloppy games like Tuesday’s effort against Vancouver.
Lines at practice Thursday had Philipp Kurashev back in the lineup at second-line center. Andreas Athansiou will sit as a result. Alec Martinez (groin) did skate with the team for a short time, but left partially through practice. It sounds like it’s unknown when Martinez will be back but he’ll travel with the team on their upcoming roadtrip.
Speaking of Kurashev, both the player in question and coach Luke Richardson briefly addressed the healthy scratch:
Bedard has a lot of faith in Kurashev coming back to make an impact:
Interestingly, Alex Vlasic was manning the point for the first power play unit at both practices. He took over that role from Seth Jones during the Canucks game, and Richardson may run with that a little longer.
Petr Mrazek will start in net. Not that it’s entirely his fault, but Mrazek isn’t having his best start to the season, with an .887 save percentage and a 3.24 goals-against so far.
Richardson also mentioned that Laurent Brossoit is still a bit away from practicing, much less in game ready shape, so Arvid Soderblom will be with the Blackhawks for a while yet and getting the nod on Saturday against the Dallas Stars.
In non-game news, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman mentioned in his 32 Thoughts article this week that the Blackhawks are one of a few teams looking to upgrade at center (thought No. 4).
This isn’t surprising considering center has been the biggest area of weakness for the team the last few seasons, but it’s also somewhat frustrating because it’s not surprising: why didn’t they try to address this known center issue over the summer? Of the many players picked up in the off-season, none were centers.
The Blackhawks already had enough evidence that neither Kurashev nor Reichel performed as well (or well at all) at center as they do at wing in the NHL. They also knew before camp that Frank Nazar would have needed to seriously WOW to make the team, and even then arguably it likely wouldn’t have been the right decision as he needs some AHL time. The argument that no centers who fit the Blackhawks needs were available this summer is valid, but if so, that’s still true now.
Maybe Rant Time with LBR will become a new feature at SCH.
On to more positive non-game news, Artyom Levshunov is expected to make his debut with the Rockford IceHogs this weekend. The IceHogs have back-to-back away games against the Manitoba Moose Saturday and Sunday.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Predators
43.71% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 51.47% (9th)
42.37% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 53.05% (6th)
2.17 (32nd) — Goals per game — 3.24 (10th)
3.52 (29th) — Goals against per game — 3.02 (T-13th)
46.3% (29th) — Faceoffs — 50.4% (16th)
16.60% (28th) — Power play — 21.6% (16th)
75.76% (27th) — Penalty kill — 76.9% (T-22nd)
(All stats from last season)
How to Watch
When: 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: N/A
Webstream: ESPN+, Hulu
Radio: WGN 720