Game Preview : Friday Night Scrimmage

Chicago Blackhawks (75 pts (35-6-5) vs Calgary Flames (42 pts 19-24-4)7:30 PM United Center - Chicago, ILTV: CSNRadio: WIND 560 AM

Season Series

Date	Score	W. Goal
Apr 26 '13
Mar 26 '13	CGY 0 at CHI 2	N. Leddy
Feb 02 '13	CHI 3 at CGY 2 - SO	P. Kane

Going to keep today's preview short and sweet, mainly because how much in depth analysis can one do for such a meaningless game? Not too much to get excited about with two teams who essentially will be just going through the motions tonight. The biggest goal for the Hawks tonight is to come out completely healthy. It looks like most of the regulars will be playing tonight, which makes sense with it being Fan Appreciation Night and all. Q hinted that some guys might get a rest tomorrow in St. Louis, including tonight's starting goalie Corey Crawford. Pretty good chance Carter Hutton makes his first career NHL start against the shitbags to the south. Ray Emery and Dave Bolland were missing from practice today. Michal Handzus looks like he will center the 2nd line between Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane. Q said they had some good chemistry when they skated together Wednesday night. Chemistry or not, I don't see how Handzus can possibly keep up with those two for an entire game. But, what better way to try it out than in a game like tonight. Cult hero, Drew LeBlanc will not play tonight, but I am sure we will see him on Saturday. Defenseman Ryan Stanton skated with the team today and he will most likely get his first taste of NHL action tomorrow night as well.

Probable Blackhawks linuep

Fowards

Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp - Michal Handzus - Patrick Kane
Bryan Bickell - Andrew Shaw - Viktor Stalberg
Brandon Bollig - Marcus Kruger - Michael Frolik

Defensive Pairings

Duncan Keith - Niklas Hjalmarsson
Nick Leddy - Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya - Sheldon Brookbank

Goaltender

Corey Crawford 18-5-5, 1.98 GAA, .925 save %, 3 SO

Injuries

Dave Bolland (lower body) OUT, Ray Emery (lower body) OUT

Leading Scorers

Player	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PP	GW
P. Kane	46	22	32	54	11	8	8	3
J. Toews	46	22	25	47	28	27	2	4
M. Hossa	39	17	13	30	19	16	4	6
B. Saad	45	10	16	26	16	12	0	2
D. Keith	46	3	23	26	16	31	2	0

Probable Flames lineup

Fowards

Michael Cammalleri - Matt Stajan - Lee Stempniak
Sven Baertschi - Mikael Backlund - Jiri Hudler
Paul Byron - Roman Horak - Roman Cervenka
Max Reinhart - Blair Jones - Tim Jackman

Defensive Pairings

Mark Giordano - Dennis Wideman
T.J. Brodie - Mark Cundari
Chris Butler - Anton Babchuk

Goaltender

Joey MacDonald 8-8-1, 2.86 GAA, .901 save %, 0 SO

Injuries

Steve Begin (hand) OUT, Paul Byron (hand) OUT, Curtis Glencross (knee) OUT, Alex Tanguay (knee) OUT, Cory Sarich (nose) OUT, Derek Smith (lower body) OUT

Leading Scorers