The Blackhawks begin the post all-star break section of their schedule with a home game against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night. Chicago plays 10 games in the next 22 days, with nine of those games coming at home, so get ready for a lot of hockey at the United Center.
Puck drop will be pushed back beyond the scheduled 8:30 p.m. start time to accommodate the national broadcast.
Minnesota came into the season with high expectations after finishing last year with 103 points, which was good for 11th overall in the standings. To say this season has been a disappointment so far would be a major understatement, as they got off to such a poor start that coach Dean Evason was fired back on Nov. 30 and replaced by John Hynes. The Wild have been better since Hynes took over, to the tune of a 15-13-1 record, but they still only have 47 points, which is good for 27th in the league standings. They’ve also faded a bit of late, winning just five of their last 16 games. They’re currently seven points out of the final Wild Card slot, and they’d have to jump five other teams to get there — so they’ve gophered themselves quite the hole.
Offensively, they’re led by the electric Kirill Kaprizov, who is one of my favorite non-Hawks players to watch. Kaprizov has 45 points (19 G, 26 A) in 42 games and, after a slow start to the season, seems to be heating up with nine points (6 G, 3A) in his last five. Kaprizov’s hockey soulmate and running buddy is Mats Zucarello, who has 39 points (8 G, 31 A) in 40 games. While they’ve gone through a litany of centers this season, lately that task has fallen to LOCAL GUY Ryan Hartman, who is having a somewhat down season by his recent standards (15 G, 10A) but has cemented himself into a major role in Minnesota. Joel Eriksson Ek leads the team in goals with 21, and the Wild also get plenty of secondary scoring from winger Matt Boldy (16 G, 17 A) and rookie center Marco Rossi (13 G, 15 A).
Fellow rookie Brock Faber has been the story of the season so far for Minnesota. They’ve leaned on the young defenseman a lot already, and even moreso since they lost their captain and blue-line stalwart Jared Spurgeon for the remainder of the season to a hip injury. Faber plays in all situations, and currently leads the entire team in average time on ice (at 20 minutes even). He hasn’t just shown promise offensively — he’s currently fifth on the team in scoring with 29 points (4 G, 25 A) — but it’s been his defensive contributions that have gotten him the most notoriety, with some hockey pundits even going so far as to state they think he’s been impressive enough to push Connor Bedard for the Calder.
If you were going to single out one thing that’s hurt the Wild the most, it has to be their goaltending. After vaulting himself into the top ten in Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAE) last season (at plus-24.2, he was seventh, right behind Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy) — and earning himself a three-year, $11.25 million contract extension in the process — Filip Gustavsson has been straight up bad this season. He’s currently at a minus-2.3 GSAE, with an .896 save percentage and 3.28 goals-against average. The Wild’s other starter is fan favorite Marc-Andre Fleury but he’s been only marginally better at .897 and 2.95, respectively. Gustavsson will get the start as Fleury is still dealing with the aftermath of a concussion, but Flower has already resumed skating, and it’ll be quite the week for him regardless as Minnesota will see the Blackhawks, Penguins, and the Golden Knights in a row.
The Wild have been running the same lines at practice the last few days:
As for the Hawks, even though he’s been seen ramping it up on the ice, they will continue to be Bedard-less for at least another few weeks.
Anthony Beauvillier and Connor Murphy have also started skating with non-contact jerseys on, though there’s been no timetable given for either.
That means the lone reinforcement returning for now will be Tyler Johnson. Luke Richardson confirmed Johnson will draw back into the lineup against the Wild. He’s been skating on the third line at practice, and playing bumper on the top power play unit.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Wild
44.05% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 49.65% (19th)
42.53% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 49.19% (21st)
2.08 (32nd) — Goals per game — 2.98 (17th)
3.52 (27th) — Goals against per game — 3.35 (24th)
45.1% (32nd) — Faceoffs — 46.5% (30th)
12.4% (32nd) — Power play — 20.7% (16th)
76.4% (26th) — Penalty kill — 73.5% (30th)
How to watch
When: 8:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV: TNT
Webstream: Watch TNT
Radio: WGN 720