Game Preview : It's The End, The End Of The Century
Chicago Blackhawks (64 pts 30-5-4) vs Detroit Red Wings (43 pts 19-16-5)7:30 PM United Center - Chicago, IL.TV: CSN Chicago (NHL Network)Radio: WGN 720 AM
Season Series
| Date | Score | W. Goal |
| Apr 12 '13 | ||
| Mar 31 '13 | CHI 7 at DET 1 | B. Saad |
| Mar 03 '13 | CHI 2 at DET 1 - SO | P. Kane |
| Jan 27 '13 | DET 1 at CHI 2 - OT | N. Leddy |
732. That is how many days it has been since the last time the Blackhawks lost to the Red Wings in regulation. With tonight being the last division/conference regular season game between these old rivals, I would love to keep that streak going. Corey Crawford gets the start in net tonight which should not surprise anyone. First off, Crow has been very good against Detroit this season (3-0-0, 0.96 GAA, .969 save %). Second, as I stated yesterday, Q is going to give Crawford every chance he can get to be the #1 goalie in the playoffs. That is, if Q hasn't made up his mind already. Dave Bolland will miss tonight's game but did drop hints that he will be making the trip to St. Louis on Sunday.
Detroit is in very unfamiliar waters as it is fighting for it's post season lives. Half of me wants them to miss the playoffs but the other half wants them to be the 8th seed so the Hawks can send them packing out East. You would think the Wings would come out with something extra tonight due to the playoff race and because of the 7-1 ass beating the Hawks gave them on Easter Sunday. The Wings can not afford to give up any more points. They had a third period lead on the San Jose Sharks last night, but ended up losing in a shootout. The recently extended Jimmy Howard will make his 4th start of the season against the Blackhawks tonight. Hopefully the Hawks PK unit will continue it's dominance tonight. Detroit is 0 for 10 on the power play so far this year versus the Blackhawks.
Probable Blackhawks linuep
Forwards
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp - Marcus Kruger - Patrick Kane
Viktor Stalberg - Michal Handzus - Bryan Bickell
Michael Frolik - Andrew Shaw - Dan Carcillo
Defensive Pairings
Duncan Keith - Niklas Hjalmarsson
Nick Leddy - Brent Seabrook
Johnny Oduya - Michael Rozsival
Goaltender
Corey Crawford 15-4-4, 2.01 GAA, .922 save %, 2 SO
Injuries
Dave Bolland (lower body) OUT
Leading Scorers
| Player | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PP | GW |
| P. Kane | 39 | 20 | 26 | 46 | 15 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| J. Toews | 39 | 19 | 21 | 40 | 23 | 23 | 2 | 4 |
| M. Hossa | 32 | 14 | 10 | 24 | 13 | 14 | 3 | 5 |
| B. Saad | 38 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 2 |
| D. Keith | 39 | 2 | 20 | 22 | 16 | 29 | 1 | 0 |
Probable Red Wings lineup
Forwards
Henrik Zetterberg - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader
Gustav Nyquist - Johan Franzen - Drew Miller
Damien Brunner - Valtteri Filppula - Danny Cleary
Cory Emmerton - Joakim Andersson - Patrick Eaves
Defensive Pairings
Niklas Kronwall - Jonathan Ericsson
Kyle Quincey - Brendan Smith
Dan DeKeyser - Jakub Kindl
Goaltender
Jimmy Howard 16-12-5, 2.39 GAA, .918 save %, 2 SO
Injuries
Darren Helm (back) OUT, Mikael Samuelsson (upper body) OUT
Leading Scorers
| Player | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PP | GW |
| P. Datsyuk | 39 | 13 | 26 | 39 | 13 | 14 | 7 | 6 |
| H. Zetterberg | 38 | 8 | 28 | 36 | -4 | 18 | 4 | 3 |
| N. Kronwall | 40 | 5 | 21 | 26 | -10 | 40 | 2 | 2 |
| J. Franzen | 33 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 9 | 35 | 3 | 0 |
| D. Brunner | 36 | 11 | 11 | 22 | -8 | 12 | 2 | 1 |
| DET | STATS | CHI |
| 40 | GP | 39 |
| 19 | W | 30 |
| 15 | L | 5 |
| 6 | OT | 4 |
| 44 | P | 64 |
| 0.55 | P% | 0.821 |
| 2.48 | G/G | 3.18 |
| 2.52 | GA/G | 2.03 |
| 18.3 | PP% | 16.7 |
| 79.9 | PK% | 85.7 |
| 29.5 | S/G | 31.5 |
| 28.6 | SA/G | 26 |
| 50.8 | FO% | 50.6 |
