The Blackhawks head back to the road on Thursday night, venturing up to Canada to face the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
These two teams met one month prior at the United Center, with the Blackhawks taking two points in a 3-2 victory. That win snapped an eight-game losing streak for the Blackhawks, and it’s been a topsy-turvy ride for Ottawa since. After that loss in Chicago, the Senators won three of four, then lost seven in a row, then won three in a row, then lost three in a row and now enter this game as winners of their last three. Ottawa is not officially eliminated from the playoffs yet but 66 points in 71 games leaves them 15 points out of the wild card spot — so it ain’t happening. The Senators acted accordingly at the deadline, trading Vladimir Tarasenko to the Florida Panthers. His departure opened the way for more of the Senators young talent to take the ice and they do have plenty of it, as documented in the preview of February’s game in Chicago.
Tim Stutzle, the 22-year-old No. 3 overall pick in 2020, remains the leading point-producer at 68 (18 G, 50 A) in 71 games, while 24-year-old Brady Tkachuk leads the team with 32 goals and has 31 assists despite spending 122 minutes in the penalty box, the No. 3 overall mark in the league and indicative of his generally obnoxious tendencies. The ice-time leaders from the blue line lean younger as well in 27-year-old Thomas Chabot (23:31), 21-year-old Jake Sanderson (23:01) and 25-year-old Jakob Chychrun (22:36). Chabot isn’t playing in this game, though:
It’s a younger team that needs more steps forward, but the core of a decent team later this decade could be having its foundation built in the present. But Ottawa’s farm system was recently ranked No. 31 in the league by The Athletic, so there’s not a ton more help on the way. The development of goalie prospect Mads Sogaard seems vital, because neither present option is young or good. Both Joonas Korpisalo (18-21-4 record, .890 save percentage, 3.30 goals-against average) nor old friend Anton Forsberg (12-12-0, .885, 3.42) have worked out and are a big reason why the Senators are down so far in the standings.
Forsberg gets the nod for this game, while the rest of the lines will probably look like the one from Ottawa’s most recent victory against Buffalo, save for Chabot’s absence:
As for the Blackhawks, victories in six of their last 10 should not come as too much of a coincidence considering the softer nature of the schedule this month, which matched Chicago up with several sides occupying similar spots near the basement of the league standings. And since Chicago’s won its last two, it’s sticking with the “don’t fix what isn’t broken” philosophy:
One little note before we go: Since racking up eight points in a pair of games earlier this month, Bedard has cooled off a touch. He’s at five points in those six games with only one goal. Perhaps a return to his native Canada and a less-than-stellar defensive side will give young No. 98 a chance to get back to his goal scoring ways. It’s not a problem if he doesn’t, of course, but the person likely most aware of no Bedard goals in the last four games is Bedard himself. Good time to change that.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Senators
44.56% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 49.95% (19th)
43.27% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 49.34% (20th)
2.21 (t-31st) — Goals per game — 3.21 (14th)
3.56 (29th) — Goals against per game — 3.54 (28th)
46.6% (29th) — Faceoffs — 50.8% (13th)
16.2% (27th) — Power play — 17.6% (24th)
77.1% (22nd) — Penalty kill — 73.2% (31st)
How to Watch
When: 6 p.m. CT
Where: Canadian Tire Center, Ottawa
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Webstream: NBC Sports App
Radio: WGN 720