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Game Preview : Things To Do In Denver When Your’re Dead

Season Series

Date Score W. Goal
Mar 18 ’13
Mar 08 ’13 CHI 2 at COL 6 J. Mitchell
Mar 06 ’13 COL 2 at CHI 3 D. Carcillo

Seeing a lot folks throw terms like “revenge” and “redemption” around regarding tonight’s game against the Avalanche. Everybody remembers the last visit to Denver, just 10 days ago, where the Avs ended the Hawks 24 points streak. How dare they?? Revenge should not be a factor in a regular season game just because it was your first loss of the year. That loss was bound to happen, and frankly, it should have happened earlier than it did. The Hawks need these two points tonight before they head into their big match up against the Ducks on Wednesday. The Blackhawks are currently atop the Western Conference while Colorado is bringing up the rear. Tonight is not the time to play down to your competition. Ray Emery will get the start in net tonight, looking to bounce back much like Corey Crawford did from a rough weekend last week. Razor has not been very good in limited action against the Avs with a 2-1 record, 3.93 GAA and a .868 save % in five games. Don’t look for any changes to lines from Saturday night. Why would you make any moves after an 8-1 mushroom stamping?

The Colorado Avalanche are a confusing bunch. They are the Sybil of the NHL as you never know what team is going to show up. Will we see the team that blew the doors off the Hawks last week or will we see the team that falls behind early and then decides to bring the blatant assbaggery? We shall see. The Hawks should feel a bit embarrassed that they gave up six goals to this team who is near the bottom of nearly every offensive category. That game was a fluke and hopefully the Hawks can turn the tables on the Avs this evening. Matt Duchene has been white hot of late with five goals and six assists in his last six games. You can almost guarantee he will score a cheesy short side goal like he seems to always do against the Hawks. Knocking him on his ass a few times early should prevent that from happening. This is the rubber match of the season series before these two teams will become division rivals nice year. Tonight could lay a foundation for a decent future feud with the Avs.

Probable Chicago Blackhawks lineup

Forwards

Brandon SaadJonathan ToewsMarian Hossa

Jimmy HayesDave BollandPatrick Kane

Bryan BickellAndrew ShawViktor Stalberg

Brandon BolligMarcus KrugerMichael Frolik

Defensive Pairings

Duncan KeithBrent Seabrook

Johnny OduyaNiklas Hjalmarsson

Nick LeddyMichal Rozsival

Goaltender

Ray Emery 10-0-0, 2.28 GAA, .917 save %, 0 SO

Injuries

Patrick Sharp (shoulder) OUT

Leading Scorers

Player GP G A P +/- PIM PP GW
P. Kane 28 15 19 34 12 2 7 1
J. Toews 28 13 13 26 15 19 2 3
M. Hossa 27 13 10 23 11 14 3 4
P. Sharp 24 5 13 18 7 14 1 1
V. Stalberg 28 6 10 16 13 12 0 1

Probable Colorado Avalanche lineup

Forwards

Gabriel Landeskog – Ryan O’Reilly – Aaron Palushaj

Jamie McGinn – Matt Duchene – P.A. Parenteau

John Mitchell – Paul StastnyMilan Hejduk

Cody McLeodChuck KobasewDavid Jones

Defensive Pairings

Greg ZanonErik Johnson

Ryan O’Byrne – Matt Hunwick

Shane O’Brien – Jan Hejda

Goaltender

Semyon Varlamov 8-12-3, 2.84 GAA, .910 save %, 2 SO

Injuries

Ryan Wilson (ankle) doubtful

Leading Scorers

Player GP G A P +/- PIM PP GW
M. Duchene 26 12 18 30 -1 10 1 2
P. Parenteau 27 12 16 28 0 30 3 1
P. Stastny 27 7 10 17 -7 8 2 1
J. Mitchell 26 9 5 14 9 14 1 1
J. McGinn 27 4 9 13 -9 22 0 2

CHI
Stats
COL
28 GP 27
23 W 10
2 L 13
3 OT 4
49 P 24
0.875 P% 0.444
3.25 G/G 2.52
2.04 GA/G 3.07
18.8 PP% 14.8
83 PK% 79.1
31.5 S/G 29.9
26.8 SA/G 32.4
50.1 FO% 50.6

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