A pair of games to kick off the holiday weekend await the Chicago Blackhawks, starting with Friday’s home game against the Montreal Canadiens.
These two teams met back in October during the early stages of the season, with the Canadiens taking a 3-2 victory at the Bell Centre. It was a game that set an early bar for dismal Blackhawks performances this season, with the one-goal margin not indicative of how poorly Chicago played in that game. Montreal has mostly hovered around mediocrity since that game and owns a 14-13-5 record, good for 33 points and sixth place in the Atlantic Division. But Montreal is actually right in the thick of the Eastern Conference standings: the division-leading Boston Bruins (44 points) and New York Rangers (45 points) have pulled away slightly but behind them are 12 teams with point totals between 31 and 39 points — and six playoff spots to award between them.
A peak at Montreal’s injured reserve list explains why the Canadiens have hovered around .500 most of the season. Our old friend Kirby Dach remains on the shelf for the season following knee surgery. Also sidelined are forwards Tanner Pearson, Alex Newhook, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and defenseman Jordan Harris. Despite all of that, though, Montreal is 4-3-3 in its last 10 games, most recently a 4-3 overtime loss in St. Paul against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. A quick turnaround while on the road could mean some heavy legs for the blue, blanc et rouge to start in this game.
The leading offensive weapons should be no surprise: Nick Suzuki tops the roster with 28 points (9 G, 19 A), followed by Cole Caufield (8 G, 15 A) and blue-liner Mike Matheson (5 G, 18 A). Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, has just 10 points (3 G, 7 A) in 32 games as he continues his adaptation to the NHL game, although he has been skating alongside Suzuki and Caufield on what’s been a pretty solid top line. Overall, though, there’s not a ton of firepower here, which explains why Montreal is down near the bottom of most offensive categories. Montreal’s defense hasn’t been much better and neither has the goaltending, with the trio of Jake Allen, Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau combining for a collective .905 save percentage and 3.16 goals-against average. With Montembeault playing last night, it would seem that Allen gets the nod this evening.
[UPDATE] Scratch that, it’s Primeau:
Here’s Montreal’s lineup from Thursday night against the Wild:
As for the Blackhawks, who are coming off one of their more enjoyable games of the season at home against the Avalanche on Tuesday night, more lineup changes appear on the way based on the morning skate. Philipp Kurashev should return after an illness sidelined him from the Colorado game, Kevin Korchinski appears back after leaving the team to attend his father’s funeral and Jarred Tinordi also looks set to return from being in concussion protocol. That all means Filip Roos and Wyatt Kaiser are the odd men out, with Petr Mrazek starting in net and Arvid Soderblom likely capping the pre-Christmas schedule with the start in St. Louis against the Blues on Saturday.
Consistency has eluded this Chicago team all season, a likely symptom of a roster full of young players and aging veterans who may not be skating this much — or at all — if on a team chasing playoff contention this season. So, having the Blackhawks come back to Earth a bit following Tuesday’s game wouldn’t be all surprising. But Montreal is not exactly the 1980s Edmonton Oilers and arrived in Chicago late last night following another road game while the Blackhawks have had the last two days off. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to use those rested legs to jump on Montreal early and bring the UC to life in a hurry.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Canadiens
44.37% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 46.91% (24th)
42.47% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 46.40% (28th)
2.35 (31st) — Goals per game — 2.72 (27th)
3.55 (29th) — Goals against per game — 3.34 (22nd)
45.9% (t-30th) — Faceoffs — 53.9% (3rd)
11.9% (29th) — Power play — 18.1% (t-21st)
74.5% (t-26th) — Penalty kill — 72.8% (t-28th)
How to watch
When: 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Webstream: Hulu/ESPN+
Radio: WGN AM 720