And so the final week of 2023-24 Chicago Blackhawks hockey is upon us, with a pair of games out west wrapping up another forgettable season, starting with Tuesday night’s visit to the defending Stanley Cup champions in the Vegas Golden Knights.
Vegas will be defending its crown in the postseason with a playoff spot secured already, but seeding remains undetermined entering this game. With 96 points in 80 games, Vegas could still leap ahead of the Nashville Predators for the top wild card spot, with Nashville checking in at 99 points after completing its regular-season race. It could also catch the Los Angeles Kings for third place in the Pacific Division, as LA has 97 points with just one game left — so this game is not wholly meaningless for Vegas in the standings.
The top point-producers in Vegas are mostly familiar names for this side: Jonathan Marchessault leads the way with a nice 69 points (42 G, 27 A) in 80 games. Jack Eichel follows with 66 (30 G, 36 A) in 61 and William Karlsson clocks in at 59 (30 G, 29 A) in 68. Mark Stone remains sidelined with an upper-body injury after tallying 53 points (16 G, 37 A) in 56 games. His placement on LTIR for the rest of the regular season after suffering a lacerated spleen back in February had some crying foul, but taking advantage of CBA loopholes is just something that savvier teams do when the opportunity presents itself.
With Stone’s salary cap hit lessened by LTIR, the Golden Knights loaded up at the trade deadline with acquisitions of forward Tomas Hertl from San Jose, defenseman Noah Hanifin from Calgary and forward Anthony Mantha from Washington. Because of all its moves, VGK has no first-round picks in 2025 or 2026 — but that’s the price to be paid for a team looking to maximize its championship window and it’s a price worth paying.
Some other minor injuries have forced Vegas to shuffle its lineup a bit as the season ends, but this will still present a hefty challenge for a Blackhawks team that could show up with a stern challenge of its own or be already eyeing vacation destinations awaiting them at the end of this week.
Here’s what VGK looked like at the morning skate:
These two teams have not played since Oct. 27, when Chicago handed Vegas its first loss of the season in a 4-3 overtime win while the Blackhawks were seemingly facing every top team the NHL could throw their way.
Petr Mrazek is expected to start, while Ethan Del Mastro has been sent back to Rockford following a decent string of performances in his first NHL action. Frank Nazar is still here after scoring his first NHL goal in his first NHL game, offering a little bit more to watch from a team that hasn’t offered much of that in the prior 80 games this season.
Swapping in Megna for EDM on defense from this lineup for Sunday’s game against the Hurricanes is a decent projection of how Chicago will line up against Vegas:
Let’s see … Bedard, Kurashev, Reichel, Nazar, Slaggert, Vlasic and Korchinski in the lineup means there are seven homegrown prospects among the 18 skaters that Chicago will throw out against Vegas. Having those players get an up-close look at what a legit Cup contending hockey team looks like at this point in the season could be the kind of thing that yields rewards down the road.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Golden Knights
43.94% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 48.29% (22nd)
42.73% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 50.66% (15th)
2.16 (32nd) — Goals per game — 3.24 (t-10th)
3.51 (29th) — Goals against per game — 2.98 (12th)
46.6% (t-29th) — Faceoffs — 49.8% (18th)
16.3% (29th) — Power play — 20.2% (19th)
76.1% (t-26th) — Penalty kill — 79.6% (15th)
How to Watch
When: 9 p.m. CT
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
TV: N/A
Webstream: ESPN+ (this game is exclusive to ESPN+)
Radio: WGN 720