The Chicago Blackhawks close out January with a game in North Carolina on Thursday night, taking on the Hurricanes.
It’s been just over a week since these two teams faced off, a 4-3 overtime win for Hurricanes in which the Blackhawks failed to hold on to a two-goal lead. Since then, the Hurricanes have won three of their four games, including shutting out the New York Rangers 4-0 on Tuesday. The Rangers game was especially interesting because it was the first game in which the Hurricanes newly acquired players — Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall — registered their first points with the team. Both players picked up primary assists on separate goals from Andrei Svechnikov.
Other than that, the team and player information from last Monday’s game preview remains basically the same. Line are where things are changed up since the Blackhawks last saw them due to the new players as well as a few members of the Hurricanes roster battling illnesses.
Rantanen has been on the top line with Sebatian Aho and Jackson Blake while Hall has been on the second with Jasper Kotkaniemi and Svechnikov. With Aho potentially out tonight, Jack Roslovic –usually the fourth-line center — was skating with Rantanen, so these lines may get shifted even more.
Sebastian Aho is a game-time decision today. Confirmed dealing with an illness.
— Ryan Henkel (@RyanHenkel_) January 30, 2025
Tyson Jost will not play today.
Canes morning skate lines:
— Ryan Henkel (@RyanHenkel_) January 30, 2025
Svechnikov-Kotkaniemi-Hall
Rantanen-Roslovic-Blake
Martinook-Staal-Jarvis
Jaaska-Jost*-Robinson
Slavin-Burns
Orlov-Chatfield
Gostisbehere-Walker
Stillman
Kochetkov
Andersen
*Jost in a different jersey than the rest of the forwards
**Aho absent
Speaking of Hall, though, he’s talked about the trade from the Blackhawks, noting his decreased playing time in recent weeks. He believed that the younger players coming into the locker room impacted his playing time, which is somewhat true with Frank Nazar, but other veterans — like Ilya Mikheyev and Nick Foligno — had increased playing time over him. Lukas Reichel actually saw a dip in his playing time in the final 10 games Hall was with the team, and neither he nor Colton Dach played more than Hall consistently.
Taylor Hall noted that he and Ryan Donato were both productive playing up in the lineup but found themselves in limited roles lately as the kids filtered up to the NHL: "They're on a different timeline than my career is right now, so I get it."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 30, 2025
Moving on to the Blackhawks current roster, they’re coming off a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, moving them more securely into the 31st ranking in the NHL standings instead of dead last. It was another game in which the young players shined: Bedard scored a ridiculous goal, Landon Slaggert got his first NHL goal this season, Reichel picked up a primary point, and Arvid Soderblom stopped 34 of 35 shots for a .971 save percentage.
The only sour note from the game was that Dach and Nolan Allan both were in the press box instead of on the ice and, while both look to be drawing back into the lineup on Thursday against Carolina, it’s still not exactly sweet.
Blackhawks lines in morning skate in Raleigh:
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 30, 2025
Nazar-Bedard-Bertuzzi
Teravainen-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Slaggert-Reichel-Foligno
Dach-Donato-Kurashev
Martinez-Jones
Vlasic-Crevier
Allan-Brodie
Soderblom
**Del Mastro and Maroon scratched. Murphy still not quite ready
Instead of reuniting Dach with Reichel, where they have been good together, he’s taking Pat Maroon’s place on the fourth line. Arguably, Anders Sorensen does not want to play three kids together on a line, but that would have been quite fun. Allan is also replacing another kid in Ethan Del Mastro instead of the preferred TJ Brodie, another womp womp moment considering the chemistry those two young defenders built for an entire season in Rockford.
It looks like Soderblom is expected to be the starter, likely a reward for the outstanding steal of a game against Tampa.
Blackhawks — Statistic — Hurricanes
44.36% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 50.47% (12th)
43.92% (30th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 51.01% (10th)
2.62 (31st) — Goals per game — 3.35 (5th)
3.40 (29th) — Goals against per game — 2.71 (8th)
45% (30th) — Faceoffs — 52.5% (4th)
24.2% (9th) — Power play — 20.8% (18th)
81.3% (11th) — Penalty kill — 86% (1st)
(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 6 p.m. CT
Where: Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720