After almost a week between games, the Blackhawks will start their seven-game homestand with their home opener against the winless Sharks on Thursday at the United Center.
Chicago dropped its season opener 4-3 to the Flyers in Prague, Czech Republic, in a game that was far more lopsided than the final score indicates. The Blackhawks were without two of their top defensemen in Calvin de Haan and Connor Murphy (groin). De Hann, who was acquired via trade from Carolina in June, won’t play against San Jose, but Murphy will.
Patrick Kane leads the Blackhawks in scoring after his three-point game with one goal and two assists against Philadelphia. Erik Gustafsson was the only other Blackhawks player with a multi-point outing with two assists.
Corey Crawford will also be back in net after allowing all four goals against Philadelphia. It’ll be Crawford’s second game — and first at the United Center — against San Jose since he suffered a concussion last December against the Sharks. He made 26 saves in Chicago’s 5-4 win last March at San Jose.
The Sharks will also be seeking their first win after a 0-4 start to the season. San Jose general manager Doug Wilson tapped into the past Tuesday, when he signed 40-year-old forward Patrick Marleau to a one-year contract. Marleau is the franchise leader in games played (1,493), goals (508) and points (1,082).
Marleau spent the first 19 seasons of his NHL career with the Sharks before signing a three-year deal with Toronto as an unrestricted free agent. Toronto traded him to Carolina in June and the Hurricanes bought out the final year of his contract. He’ll skate on the top line with Timo Meier and Logan Couture.
Brent Burns and Couture lead San Jose in scoring with a goal and three points each. They both tallied their goal on the power play.
The Sharks will turn to backup Aaron Dell in net over Martin Jones. Dell allowed one goal in relief in San Jose’s season opener at Vegas, and allowed three goals three days later in his start at Anaheim.
Tale of the tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Sharks
42.27% (30th) — Corsi For — 51.49% (11th)
37.9% (31st) — Faceoffs — 50% (14th)
3.00 (16th) — Goals per game — 1.25 (30th)
4.00 (23rd) — Goals against per game — 4.25 (24th)
50% (3rd) — Power play — 5.9% (26th)
66.7% (t-23rd) — Penalty kill — 85.7% (9th)
Andiamo Hawks
Lineups
Blackhawks
Nylander — Toews — Kane
DeBrincat — Strome — Shaw
Saad — Kampf — Kubalik
Smith — Carpenter — Caggiula
Keith — Gustafsson
Maatta — Seabrook
Koekkoek — Murphy
Crawford
Lehner
Sharks
Meier — Couture — Marleau
Kane — Hertl — Goodrow
Bergmann — Thornton — Labanc
Yurtaikin — Gambrell — M. Karlsson
Vlasic — Burns
Dillon — E. Karlsson
Ferraro — Carrick
Dell
Jones
How to watch
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Live stream: ESPN+