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Is This Thing Cursed? Blackhawks vs. Flames Preview

Which version of the Blackhawks will we get this time?

Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Our latest look at this Jekyll-and-Hyde version of the Blackhawks arrives on Monday night when they host the Calgary Flames at the United Center.

Calgary is closer to a mediocre side than a good one, currently sitting fifth in the Pacific Division with 47 points, good for ninth in the Western Conference and 15th in the league overall. The Flames are currently one point behind the Vancouver Canucks for the second wild card spot in the West but do own a game in hand, although it’s fair to question what Calgary will accomplish should they arrive in the postseason because not much here is going to suggest it has anything more in the cards than a first-round exit. This team has decent enough quantity of possession at 5-on-5 (ninth in the league with a 51.86 percent shot share) and average quality (50.45 percent share of expected goals, 16th) but is 27th at goals per game this season, suggesting all the possession in the world can’t cure the lack of a finishing touch among this forward group. Jonathan Hubderdeau remains the leading scorer here with 31 points (18 G, 13 A) in 41 games, still nowhere near that 115-point season he had with Florida before being traded to Calgary in that blockbuster deal involving Matthew Tkachuk. Nazem Kadri is second with 29 (14 G, 15 A) in 41 which is probably more of an indictment on the scoring depth with the Flames, as Kadri has offensive touch at times but is more known for being an absolute pain in the ass on the defensive side of the ice. Youngster Connor Zary is third with 22 points (10 G, 12 A) but just landed on IR, which further cripples this already lackluster attack. All of this means someone’s netting a hat trick for Calgary, of course.

The brightest spot of the season for the Flames is likely in net, where 23-year-old Dustin Wolf has been pretty good (14-6-2 record, .916 save percentage, 2.53 goals-against average). And that’s been vital because Dan Vladar has not (6-8-5, .888, 3.08). Wolf already has a pair of victories over Chicago this season, backstopping a 3-1 win on Oct. 15 and withstanding a late Chicago rally to win 6-4 just before Christmas. He’ll be looking for the season sweep in this game.

Calgary has won its last two games, most recently a 2-1 victory over the LA Kings on Saturday night that seems like the kind of low-scoring affair that the Flames are more apt to handle this season. The Blackhawks enter after a couple of defeats, one an understandable 4-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, the other an infuriating 5-3 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit on Friday night. Before that, they beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Wednesday night in one of the team’s better outings of the season. You figure out what the fuck this team is going to be like tonight, because I give up!

The lineup from the morning skate offers some encouragement, though. TJ Brodie appears headed to the press box so the blue lines features four youngsters, while the forward has an exciting kid line of Dach-Nazar-Reichel together after a rough initial look for that group over the weekend.

If there’s energy to be found from this team as it enters the real doldrums of the schedule, putting a trio of NHL novices together and letting them figure it out on the fly is one possible way to unearth it. Anders Sorensen at least seems to be giving that group time to figure it out together:

No idea what to expect from this game. Guess we’ll all find out together, won’t we?

Let’s go Hawks.

Blackhawks — Statistic — Flames
44.89% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 51.86% (9th)
44.43% (30th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 50.45% (16th)
2.56 (29th) — Goals per game — 2.61 (27th)
3.42 (t-28th) — Goals against per game — 2.98 (14th)
44.5% (t-30th) — Faceoffs — 45.0% (29th)
22.9% (12th) — Power play — 20.7% (18th)
82.9% (6th) — Penalty kill — 70.8% (30th)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 6:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN, NHL Network
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720

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