After an unsuccessful five-game road trip for the Blackhawks, going 1-4-0 against the Western Canadian teams, all four of whom are ahead of Chicago in the standings, the Blackhawks will begin a two-game homestand against the Rangers on Wednesday at United Center.
Chicago (26-25-8) lost their second straight contest to the Jets on Sunday in Winnipeg, dropping the season series three games to two. Patrick Kane managed two points, a goal and an assist, in the 3-2 loss. Ryan Carpenter collected his third goal of the season and Corey Crawford made 35 saves on 38 shots.
Neither team picked up a penalty over the course of the game, the first such contest this season in the NHL. Consequently, Chicago hasn’t scored a power play goal in six games.
Robin Lehner is slated to start for the Blackhawks after making 38 saves in a 8-4 win over the Flames on Saturday. He’s 16-9-5 with a .921 save-percentage and owns a 12.9 goals saved above average this season.
The Rangers (30-24-4) headed into Sunday on a four-game winning streak, but lost to the Bruins 3-1. Mika Zibanejad scored the only goal for New York.
The Rangers are eight points out of the wild card in the East, but have two teams, Florida and Columbus, ahead of them in the race, although they have one game in hand on Carolina. They look to have one of the biggest names on the rental market at the deadline in Chris Kreider, should they choose to sell.
They also have former Blackhawk Artemi Panarin. This will be the first time Chicago sees Panarin in his new home, as the Blackhawks also face the Rangers in New York in April. Panarin leads the Rangers with 78 points in 57 games, including 29 goals, and center Zibanejad has 25 goals and 52 points in 45 games.
Igor Shesterkin is expected to start for the Rangers. He’s won four straight starts and has a .941 save-percentage in seven appearances this season.
This will be another meeting of the Strome family as the Blackhawks’ Dylan Strome faces brother Ryan Strome from New York.
Tale of the tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Rangers
48.6% (22nd) — Corsi For — 46.5% (29th)
46.2% (28th) — Expected goals for — 46.0% (29th)
2.93 (19th) — Goals per game — 3.24 (8th)
3.12 (20th) — Goals against per game — 3.09 (18th)
49.5% (20th) — Faceoffs — 46.5% (30th)
14.0% (31st) — Power play — 23.2% (6th)
81.7% (12th) — Penalty kill — 79.3% (18th)
Projected lineups
Blackhawks
Kubalik — Toews — Caggiula
Saad — Carpenter — Kane
DeBrincat — Dach — Strome
Highmore — Kampf — Nylander
Keith — Boqvist
Gustafsson — Murphy
Maatta — Koekkoek
Lehner
Crawford
Rangers
Kreider — Zibanejad — Buchnevich
Panarin — Strome — Fast
Di Giuseppe — Chytil — Kakko
Lemieux — Howden — Gauthier
Skjei — Trouba
DeAngelo — Staal
Lindgren — Fox
Shesterkin
Lundqvist
How to watch
When: 7:00 p.m.
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: NBC Sports
Live stream: NBC Sports app, NHL.TV