In the last month, it’s felt like the NHL schedule-makers were chronologically working through Chicago’s games this season, made it to March, realized they’d forgotten all of the teams on the west coast, and slapped them all into same two or three-week stretch.
Anyway, the Blackhawks’ road trip continues out west on Thursday night, with another Pacific Division rematch happening: this time against the Anaheim Ducks. Like the recent duo of games with the Los Angeles Kings, the Blackhawks and Ducks played in Chicago last week before this California clash, with the Blackhawks enjoying their most lopsided win of the season in a 7-2 victory. A five-point night from Connor Bedard highlighted the evening’s proceedings, which included a line brawl and a near goalie fight:
The potential for fireworks exists with the embers from that fiery exchange likely still glowing. But that’s where most of the intrigue remains for a game between two teams that are otherwise ready for the offseason and have been for several months. Anaheim was actually one of the season’s early surprises, with a six-game winning streak as part of an overall 8-2 stretch from the first month of the season that had it resembling a playoff contender in mid-November.
The Ducks flew south for the winter and have yet to recover, though, sliding so far down in the standings that they’re now within striking distance of these Blackhawks. Anaheim has 49 points in a nice 69 games, just six ahead of Chicago’s 43 in 69 (San Jose remains dead last at 39 in 68). A Chicago win this evening closes the gap further, although a four-point gap with just a dozen games remaining would still be a hefty leap for the Blackhawks to make.
Since losing to Chicago last week, Anaheim’s continued sinking with four losses by an aggregate score of 16-2, and it’s been shut out in three of those four defeats. The Ducks’ losing streak sits at seven games entering Thursday night, as things look as bleak for Anaheim now as it did for Chicago in January and February.
The Ducks will have some lineup changes, including a different goalie, so perhaps there won’t be a Gibson/Mrazek scrap:
Factor those changes into the Ducks’ lineup from their most recent game on Tuesday night against the Wild for an idea of what they’ll probably run out this evening:
Chicago is rolling a different set of forward lines as it did on Tuesday night against LA with an additional change in net:
The other items to notice there include Kevin Korchinski remaining in the lineup following a particularly rough outing and Wyatt Kaiser still skating as well with Jarred Tinordi still watching from the press box. It’s as good a time as any to let those youngsters get another taste of NHL action, with the level of difficulty several steps down from Tuesday’s steeper challenge against the Kings.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Ducks
44.67% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 46.47% (27th)
43.06% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 45.95% (28th)
2.19 (t-31st) — Goals per game — 2.46 (30th)
3.58 (28th) — Goals against per game — 3.64 (31st)
46.8% (29th) — Faceoffs — 47.4% (t-26th)
16.1% (28th) — Power play — 18.1% (24th)
77.3% (22nd) — Penalty kill — 73.2% (30th)
How to Watch
When: 9 p.m. CT
Where: Honda Center, Anaheim
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Webstream: NBC Sports App
Radio: WGN 720