Enter the Great Gate: Blackhawks at Predators Preview

The Blackhawks return from the Olympic break on Thurdsay night, kicking off a four-game road trip with a stop in Nashville to face the Predators.

These two teams met about six weeks ago at the same place, with Chicago winning 3-0 thanks to an incredible effort from rookie goalie Drew Commesso, who twirled a 36-save shutout in net while much of the Blackhawks roster was exhausted from either playing a second game in as many nights or from whatever illness was running rampant in the locker room at that time. The Predators went on to win their next three before losing five of six, cooling off slightly from their red-hot stretch in December that helped them vault back into the playoff picture. Entering this game, Nashville is four points out of the second wild card spot out West, with 59 points in 57 games. It’s not far from Seattle’s 63 in 57 and only one other team is in the way: the LA Kings at 60 in 57. It won’t be an easy road, but it’s not an impossible adventure.

Even if the Predators make the postseason, though, it’s fair to wonder if they’re just setting themselves up for a first-round demolition at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. And it’s not like the Predators are seeing a surge of youthful production this season, either: only one player (Luke Evangelista) among Nashville’s top nine point-producers is under the age of 25, and the top three features 35-year-old Ryan O’Reilly (20 G, 36 A), 31-year-old Filip Forsberg (24 G, 23 A) and 36-year-old Steven Stamkos (28 G, 16 A). Behind Evangelista in fourth (8 G, 34 A) is 35-year-old Roman Josi (11 G, 28 A). Perhaps this team has come too far to be sellers at the deadline, or perhaps a stutter out of this midseason gate leads to a Nashville firesale. Either way, it doesn’t seem anything happening with the Predators this season is a harbinger of long-term success.

Lineup projections are a little murky, as the most recent data out there didn’t include Nashville’s Olympic participants, although those players (Josi, Forsberg, Erik Haula and goaltender Juuse Saros) were on the ice at the morning skate. Here’s a sample from earlier in the week:

Preds lines at non-Olympian practice:
Stamkos-O’Reilly-Evangelista
Bunting-McCarron-Marchessault
Smith-Jost-Wiesblatt

Skjei-Wilsby
Hague-Perbix
Blankenburg-Barron

Annunen
Murray

Minus your olympians Josi, Forsberg, Haula, Saros @1025TheGame

— Max Herz (@MaxHerzTalks) February 20, 2026

As for the Hawks, a playoff chase is almost certainly out of the cards for this group but there’s still plenty to be learned from these final 25 games, largely revolving around the younger players on the roster. With that in mind, close eyes will be affixed to the blue line, where Artyom Levshunov appears to be returning from his brief stint in the press box prior to the Olympics as part of a chance to reset following some subpar outings. Sam Rinzel also appears to be in the lineup after earning a call-up last month with his steady play in Rockford, rebounding from tougher nights with the parent club earlier in the season. For some reason, Kevin Korchinski also with the Hawks but seems to be out of the lineup, based on what lines resembled at practice on Wednesday:

Blackhawks lines in practice:

Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
Moore-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Donato-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Teravainen-Foligno-Slaggert

Vlasic-Crevier
Murphy-Rinzel
Grzelcyk-Levshunov

Extras: Dach, Lafferty, Korchinski

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 25, 2026

Spencer Knight was in the starter’s crease at the morning skate, so expect him to be in net. It’s a game against Nashville which means it likely won’t be the most aesthetically pleasing hockey, but the kids on this Hawks roster still need to take advantage of every opportunity they get to prove themselves at the NHL level. Might as well start the post-Olympic schedule with two points.

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Predators
46.54% (29th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 52.04% (8th)
44.10% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 52.53% (6th)
2.65 (26th) — Goals per game — 2.91 (21st)
3.16 (t-20th) — Goals against per game — 3.47 (28th)
47.0% (t-29th) — Faceoffs — 51.5% (8th)
19.1% (t-20th) — Power play — 21.8% (13th)
85.7% (1st) — Penalty kill — 80.0% (13th)
(All stats from this season)