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Die Historic: Blackhawks at Red Wings Preview

The Blackhawks square off against a familiar foe for the first time this season.

Posted on by Eric Gegenheimer
Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The Blackhawks finish off their season long six game road trip with a stop in Detroit for a noon puck drop against the Red Wings on Sunday.

The year is 2074. Civilization has collapsed, and the world has devolved into a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland. We’re in the second brutal decade of the water wars, and humanity is hanging by a thread. It is now officially year 56 of the Yzerplan, and the Red Wings still have yet to make the playoffs.

For the first time in a very long time, that’s suddenly not looking like the truth (the Detroit in the playoffs part, not the collapse of civilization part, as that’s definitely on the way). The Red Wings currently occupy the first wild card slot in the East, with 18 points in 15 games. What makes that slightly more interesting is they’ve done the majority of their damage without Patrick Kane, who just returned to action on Friday night against the Rangers after missing the previous nine games with an upper-body injury.

So how did it go for old Kaner in his first game back?

I’m sure Patrick will come out with a little extra juice on Sunday against his old team — he has one goal and four assists in three games versus the Blackhawks so far. He’s also just six goals shy of 500, and the career accolades have to be a significant part of what’s motivating Kane these days.

Detroit is paced in scoring by Dylan Larkin (8 G, 10 A) and Alex DeBrincat (4 G, 11 A). Offensively, they’re not doing a lot as a team, as they’re currently averaging 2.87 goals per game, which puts them 20th overall. They’re decent in creating chances — their 51.92 percent possession share is ninth, and their 51.55 percent shot share is tenth — but converting on those chances is a completely different story, as their 42.37 Goals For percentage has them all the way at the bottom as one of the three worst teams in the league.

The leader on their backend is the really good but not quite elite Mo Seider (1 G, 5 A), who’s recently been partnered with fellow kid Simon Edvidsson to form the Red Wings top pairing. 20-year-old Swedish newcomer Axel Sandin-Pelikka is also doing a decent job of holding his own as he adjusts to his first year in the NHL, and has been significantly better when not dragged down by the defensive black hole/partner killer that is Ben Chiarot.

Their goal tending tandem is 32-year-old John Gibson — who hilariously finally left Anaheim after years of trade speculation just in time for them to lead their division (coincidence?) — and 38-year-old Cam Talbot. Both Gibson and Talbot are basically league average in save percentage and goals-against, but positive in Goals Saved Above Expected (Gibson is 30th at plus-2.5, and Talbot is 33rd at plus-1.8). So far they’ve split the workload evenly, with both of them getting eight starts apiece, but Gibson will be getting the nod on Sunday:

And here’s the lineup the Red Wings ran out during their loss to the Rangers on Friday night:

As for the Blackhawks, after starting off their six game road trip 0-2-1, they’ve won their last two games against Vancouver and Calgary by showcasing some serious offensive firepower, most notably from Connor Bedard — who is currently (as of Saturday night) second in the entire league in scoring. Bedard is in the midst of a seven game point streak, and his stellar play this season has become even more noticeable of late as his ascension to super stardom continues:

The big question mark for the Blackhawks will be whether Frank Nazar is good to go after leaving the game against the Flames with an apparent leg injury during the first period. The Blackhawks didn’t practice Saturday, so the last official word on Nazar came from Coach Jeff Blashill Friday night:

While Bedard is certainly the brightest spot in the Blackhawks early season surge so far, Spencer Knight is right behind him. Knight currently leads all goalies with a plus-13.3 Goals Saved Above Expected, he’s second in save percentage (.926), and tied for fifth overall with six wins (in 11 starts). He was a few minutes away from a shutout against Vancouver last Wednesday, then completed the task on Friday in Calgary. With no practice on Saturday, and no official word from Blashill either, we won’t know who’s starting until Sunday morning — but with only two games on the schedule next week, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Knight back out there again. Especially because this will be Blashill’s first time coaching against his old team, and I know it means something extra to him as well.

We know all the connections (and history) between these two teams pretty well at this point, but it’s been a quite some time since the Blackhawks and Red Wings faced each other while both occupying a playoff spot. Whether either of them will still being holding one of those spots when it actually matters is a long way from now, so in the meantime…

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Red Wings
44.09% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 47.99% (23rd)
43.03% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 48.25% (24th)
2.73 (26th) — Goals per game — 2.87 (22nd)
3.56 (31st) — Goals against per game — 3.16 (21st)
44.8% (31st) — Faceoffs — 49.0% (22nd)
24.9% (7th) — Power play — 27.0% (4th)
79.3% (14th) — Penalty kill — 70.1% (32nd)
(All stats from last season)

How to Watch

When: 12 p.m. CT
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
TV: CHSN
Webstream: NHL Network
Radio: WGN 720

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