Game Preview : Bounce Back Game
Chicago Blackhawks (45 pts 21-1-3) vs Edmonton Oilers (21 points 8-11-5)6PM United Center - Chicago IL,TV: CSN ChicagoRadio: WGN 720 AM
Season Series
| Date | Score | W. Goal |
| Apr 24 '13 | ||
| Mar 10 '13 | ||
| Feb 25 '13 | EDM 2 at CHI 3 - OT | M. Hossa |
The Hawks historic point streak to start a season ended Friday night with a 6-2 loss to the Avalanche. Thankfully in this lockout shortened season they don't have to wait very long to get back on the ice. Now the Blackhawks can put their focus back on winning another Stanley Cup and not have to worry about goofy ESPN reporters and becoming Twitter BFF's with basketball players. Don't look for too many changes from Friday night's line up. Corey Crawford should get the start in net tonight after his worst start of the season in Denver. He did not see the Oilers back on Feb 25th and has struggled against them in his career. In seven games versus Edmonton he is 2-4-0 with a 3.43 GAA and a .871 save %.
The Oilers started a nine game road trip at the UC on Feb 25th and are still in the midst of it when they come calling tonight. The road has not been very kind to them as they are 1-4-2 through the first seven games. Edmonton is on a major scoring drought. They have not scored a goal in the last 164:29 they have played and were crushed 6-0 by the offensive juggernaut they are the Nashville Predators in their last game. The Blackhawks should get their first look of the year at Devan Dubnyk tonight. He is 2-2-0 with a 3.72 GAA and a .910 save % in 5 games against the Hawks.
Probable Chicago Blackhawks lineup
Foward
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa
Bryan Bickell - Dave Bolland - Patrick Kane
Daniel Carcillo - Andrew Shaw -Viktor Stalberg
Brandon Bollig - Marcus Kruger - Michael Frolik
Defensive Pairings
Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya - Niklas Hjalmarsson
Nick Leddy - Michal Rozsival
Goaltender
Corey Crawford 11-1-3, 1.81 GAA, .930 save %, 2 SO
Injuries
Patrick Sharp (shoulder) OUT, Steve Montador (concussion) questionable
Leading Scorers
| Player | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PP | GW |
| P. Kane | 25 | 12 | 15 | 27 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| J. Toews | 25 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 12 | 19 | 2 | 2 |
| M. Hossa | 24 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 4 |
| P. Sharp | 24 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 1 |
| V. Stalberg | 25 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 10 | 0 | 1 |
Probable Edmonton Oilers lineup
Forwards
Taylor Hall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Magnus Paajarvi - Sam Gagner - Nail Yakupov
Lennart Petrell - Ryan Smyth - Eric Belanger
Ryan Jones - Shawn Horcoff - Mike Brown
Defensive Pairings
Nick Schultz - Justin Schultz
Ladislav Smid - Jeff Petry
Theo Peckham - Ryan Whitney
Goaltender
Devan Dubnyk 6-9-4, 2.85 GAA, .916 save %, 0 SO
Injuries
Ales Hemsky (foot) questionable, Nikolai Khabibulin (groin) OUT, Mark Fistric (elbow) OUT, Andy Sutton (knee) OUT, Shawn Horcoff (hand) OUT, Teemu Hartikainen (shoulder) OUT Anton Lander (foot) OUT
Leading Scorers
| Player | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PP | GW |
| S. Gagner | 24 | 7 | 14 | 21 | -4 | 19 | 2 | 1 |
| T. Hall | 21 | 4 | 15 | 19 | -4 | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Eberle | 24 | 6 | 11 | 17 | -6 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| A. Hemsky | 23 | 8 | 5 | 13 | -6 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
| J. Schultz | 24 | 5 | 8 | 13 | -10 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Stats | CHI | |
| 24 | GP | 25 | |
| 8 | W | 21 | |
| 11 | L | 1 | |
| 5 | OT | 3 | |
| 21 | P | 45 | |
| 0.438 | P% | 0.9 | |
| 2.17 | G/G | 3.08 | |
| 2.88 | GA/G | 1.96 | |
| 20.8 | PP% | 17.4 | |
| 84.2 | PK% | 87.2 | |
| 28 | S/G | 30.9 | |
| 33.7 | SA/G | 27 | |
| 46.1 | FO% | 49.4 |
