The Chicago Blackhawks host the St. Louis Blues at the United Center for another Sunday matinee game, with the home team hoping to get something going after ending a five-game losing streak on Friday.
The Blues are doing alright for themselves this season, currently sitting in one of the wild card spots for the playoffs. It may seem early to be talking about the playoffs, but teams in such a spot on American Thanksgiving have ultimately made the playoffs over 76 percent of the time since the 2005-06 season (excluding the 2012-13 and 2020-21 seasons which weren’t playing in November). Of those who dropped out of the playoff picture despite being a playoff lock on Thanksgiving, almost 60 percent were just two points above a rival team, like the Blues are currently. They’re sitting at 21 points, followed closely by the Arizona Coyotes at 20 and the Nashville Predators at 19. So, the Blues need to secure a win against the Blackhawks to pick up another two points to gain a little breathing room in the rankings, especially after falling 8-3 to the Nashville Predators Friday.
In that loss to Nashville, Robert Thomas scored his team-leading eighth goal, and he leads the Blues in goals, assists (12) and points (20). No other player is above a point-per-game, but the Blues have four other players in double digits: forwards Pavel Buchnevich with 13 (7 G, 6 A), Jordan Kyrou with 12 (4 G, 8 A), and Brayden Schenn with 11 (6 G, 5 A) and then defenseman Justin Faulk with 10 (all assists). That lack of production makes sense, considering St. Louis is currently 23rd in goals per game (2.89) and second to last on the power play (8.5 percent).
The Blues lines in practice on Saturday were somewhat jumbled from the Predators game. The most notable change has Jake Neighbors starting on the top line with Thomas and Buchnevich, while Kyrou has been shifted down to the third line as a result. Jakub Vrana will draw back into the lineup after being scratched in the last game. The bottom defensive pairing is unknown, but Jordan “Whiny Trash Baby” Binnington is expected to start.
After losing five straight, it was good to see the Blackhawks back in the win column on Friday after beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime. Despite going down 3-1 in the second period — a feat that typically makes the game seem out of the Blackhawks’ reach — Jason Dickinson scored his first career hat trick to push the game to overtime, where Kevin Korchinski shoveled a lucky bounce into the net to give the Blackhawks the win with 30 seconds left in the extra period. The last bounce may have been fortunate, but the sheer chaotic possession created a group of young players — Korchinski, Connor Bedard, and Philipp Kurashev — made in the 15-20 seconds they were on the ice together was amazing to watch. And it was exactly what they were trying to do:
We had a good thing going. Me, Bedsy and Kurshy, we were just kind of circling the zone trying to create chaos and we had a lot of plays there that almost worked out, then finally got a good bounce and got it in the back of the net.
– Korchinski
It’s fun to see any player score a hat trick obviously, but that OT winner was more special because it was a combination of three young players who are hopefully on the Blackhawks during their rise back to success in the years to come.
Thanks to their assists on Korchinski’s goal, Bedard (1G, 3A) and Kurashev (2G, 4A) extended their point streaks to four and five games, respectively. Joey Anderson, who was recalled from the Rockford IceHogs Thursday, also had an assist, and Arvid Soderblom had a .919 save-percentage for his second win of the season.
As for who will play against St. Louis on Sunday, the lineup will likely be much the same from the Toronto game:
With Taylor Hall (knee) done for the season, Andreas Athanasiou (lower body) still not skating, and Corey Perry away from the team “foreseeable future”, there aren’t a lot of options to fill out the roster beyond what they’ve already done by recalling Anderson and Cole Guttman from Rockford. It doesn’t sound like GM Kyle Davidson is in a rush to look outside the organization for fillers, either:
The Perry situation continues to loom a bit, especially after the Blackhawks and Perry’s agent contradicted themselves Saturday: Davidson spoke to the press and stated the decision was an organizational one — as they said from the beginning — but Perry’s agent released a statement implying it was a decision by the player. Normally this situation wouldn’t be so newsworthy, but the Blackhawks’ previous lack of transparency — even if that was the last regime — means more scrutiny and judgement from everyone.
One good bit of news for Blackhawks fans that came out of practice on Saturday was that Davidson practically confirmed that Korchinski would not play in the World Juniors. The last time the Blackhawks let a top prospect go to the World Juniors was Kirby Dach back in 2020, when he injured his wrist during an exhibition game and needed surgery — delaying his development so much that he was ultimately traded to the Montreal Canadiens just two years later.
Hopefully this good news will help keep the “positive vibes”, as Korchinski called it, again Sunday afternoon against the Blues.
How to watch
When: 1 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: NBC Sports Chicago, NHL Network
Webstream: n/a
Radio: WGN 720