The Blackhawks start a critical home-and-home against the Avalanche Saturday afternoon in Denver.
In their previous matchup, the Blackhawks suffered a frustrating 5-3 loss at the United Center where they were stymied by their nemesis, Semyon Varlamov. However, Chicago has the upper hand on the season series by winning two straight in late December at the Pepsi Center and can snatch the season series with a win.
Colorado comes into Saturday’s matinee on a three-game win streak and have jumped ahead of the Coyotes in the Western Conference wild card race.
Philipp Grubauer has only given up two goals during the current streak, and will likely get a fourth straight start Saturday afternoon.
When it comes to Colorado’s offensive capabilities, it all revolves around Nathan MacKinnon, who paces the team with 91 points (37 goals, 54 assists). Gabriel Landeskog (33 goals, 36 assists) and Mikko Rantanen (31 goals, 56 assists) are also vital cogs in Colorado’s offensive attack. However, Landeskog is out for the rest of the regular season with an upper-body injury. Rantanen is also nursing an injury after leaving Thursday night’s game against Dallas with an upper-body injury and is questionable for Saturday.
The Blackhawks have dropped their last two games. If Chicago wants to stay in this race with nine games left, getting at least three points out of this back-to-back will be monumental for its playoff hopes.
Patrick Kane continues to lead the Blackhawks with 101 points. Jonathan Toews is catching up to his career best 76-point 2010-11 season with 73 points this season. Alex DeBrincat continues to impress in his sophomore season with 71 points and has five points in his last three games. On the back end, Erik Gustafsson has been providing consistent firepower. He is fourth on the team with 52 points and is tied for third in the NHL in goals scored by defensemen with 15.
The Blackhawks’ power play has gone ice cold as they’re 1-for-21 in their last nine games. They’ll have a chance to get back on track against Colorado, whose penalty kill is 27th in the league.
Goaltender Corey Crawford is preparing to possibly start both games this weekend. Crawford is 4-1-1 in his last six starts with a 0.955 save percentage. Without Crawford’s performances, Chicago’s playoff hopes would be bleak.
Lineups
Blackhawks
Sikura— Toews — Kane
DeBrincat – Strome – Perlini
Saad – Anisimov – Kahun
Kunitz — Kampf — Kruger
Keith — Gustafsson
Dahlstrom — Murphy
Forsling — Seabrook
Crawford
Delia
Avalanche
Brassard – MacKinnon – Compher
Wilson – Soderberg – Rantanen
Kerfoot – Jost – Calvert
Andrighetto – Borque – Graves
Girard – Johnson
Cole – Barrie
Zadorov – Nemeth
Grubauer
Varlamov
How to watch
When: 2 p.m., Central
Where: Pepsi Center, Denver
TV: NBC Sports Chicago